Gumby
by Hades'Queen
Summary: Teaching shouldn’t have been so difficult. However, he’d never anticipated that he’d be bewitched by an insufferably happy child. Yet, he wouldn’t have her change for anything, even if it meant tearing his heart a new one and breaking one of the only rule
1. Ponderings of the Maddened

**Disclaimer:** Don't sue, I'm not J. K. Rowling, obviously and don't own Harry Potter.

**Authors Note:** Fist few chapters will be one incident a year, however when it gets to the sixth year that's where the story will probably settle. Story begins when Snape has just started to teach at Hogwarts.

**Summary:** Teaching shouldn't have been so difficult. However, he'd never anticipated that he'd be bewitched by an insufferably happy child. Yet, he wouldn't have her change for anything, even if it meant tearing his heart a new one and breaking one of the only rules that applied to Professors.

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 1: Ponderings Of The Maddened**_

Samara was 10 minutes early to Potions. Like always, the door was locked, something Professor Slughorn would have never done. She found it a little hard to adjust to the new Potions Professor and Head of Slytherin. He wasn't as cheerful as Slughorn usually was. He seemed to be a rather mean and cruel man.

She sighed, sitting down on the floor in the hallway. She crossed her legs and pulled out her Potions book, opening it to where she'd left off. However, before she commenced reading she grabbed one of the several think black ponytails on her arm and twisted her long, straight, black hair into a sloppy bun. It was so she could keep her hair out of her hazel eyes while she read.

But like always, two strands of hair escaped her bun and framed each side of her face. As a result of having bangs when she was younger, these strands of hair only reached to about her chin and where forever elusive of any type of binding. Something Samara was quite used to by now and actually preferred.

Samara looked up when she felt someone cast a shadow on her reading. "Good morning Professor Snape," Samara said smiling. From where she sat, the already tall Potions Master looked like a giant. Greasy curtains of shoulder length hair framed his sallow face. A hooked nose protruded from between jet black eye that looked cold and most distant.

Severus raised a brow as she stared at the small second year. "Get off the floor Miss Green," Severus said, causing Samara to furrow her brow. However, she did as she was told, taking her book in hand. Severus didn't bother to watch her, but merely turned to his classroom door before sweeping inside.

Samara Green, no one in Slytherin was capable of earning half the points she earned with her brilliance. Neither had he ever seen any other Slytherin that was better liked by the other houses. However, she seemed the weaker like when it came to her Slytherin friends. He had to wonder at how someone like her could even get into Slytherin.

Severus had to admit that she was a very sweet and cheerful girl. She was very pretty and very friendly girl. However, after almost a year of having her as his students, all he wanted to find were her imperfections. After almost a year, all he could come up with was that she was very weak and impulsive. Perhaps she was a little naïve, idealistic and curious, though, he was unsure if he really considered those imperfections.

However, what he really hated was how light on her felt she was. Often times, she snuck up on him, her feet made no sound at all as she walked and Severus wondered if it was because she was incredibly thin and tiny. Her body seemed lost in her robes and she wasn't very tall. She hardly ever reached his mid-chest.

"Professor Snape?" Samara asked softly. Severus turned around and watched Samara taking her seat. She always kept her long hair tied up during Potions. He guessed it was to keep her hair out of her face to be better able to concentrate on her potion. However, he never failed to notice the strands on either side of her face that refused to join the rest in ponytails, half-tails, pigtails, braids, sloppy buns, or however else she decided to wear her long hair.

"Yes Miss Green?" He asked, a bit impatiently. He didn't have any patience this morning to be able to satisfy her curious nature. Samara seemed to be able to perceive this so she shook her had and took her seat. Severus was grateful for this.

**TBC…**


	2. Birthday Gift

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 2: Birthday Gift**_

Severus made his way towards Slytherin to check to make sure that the common room was empty. After his first year at Hogwarts as a teacher, he'd learned that it was necessary to check on the common room. However, he couldn't imagine anyone was up. After all it was past midnight and officially Wednesday, January 9th to be exact.

It was a date that he didn't particularly care for; except that it meant that he was another year older. Severus marched down the hallways, thinking of how he was now 24 years old. He groaned inwardly to think of what Professor Dumbledore would do or say. He hoped that he would let the day pass like the previous year, without saying a word.

Walking into the Slytherin common room, he cast these thoughts aside, casting a quick glance around the common room. His eyes immediately narrowed as he caught sight of a small slumped figure at one of the tables. He was at the child's side in a few quick strides and wondered as he realized who it was how the girl had fallen asleep in the common room. Upon spotting an open Defense Against the Dark Arts book he understood.

"Wake up Miss Green," Severus said loudly. When the girl did not stir he groaned in exasperation he realized he would actually have to touch the third year. He abhorred touching people and abhorred being touched; therefore he wasn't very pleased that for the first time in a couple of years he would have to touch someone, someone he didn't want to touch. "Miss Green!" Severus said sternly as he placed a hand on her thin shoulder and lightly shook her.

"What time is it?" she asked groggily as she slowly started to get up. She probably was still partially asleep as she sat up and rubbed her eyes. She yawned in the meantime and Severus wondered at the fact that she'd gone to sleep with her hair tied up. He remembered what Lily had once told him how she found it painful to sleep with her hair tied up.

A sharp pang coursed through his being to think of Lily. After two years, the pain was no less hurtful than it had been in the beginning. He wondered if there would ever come a day where he would be able to stop loving her of at least stop feeling her lost quite so acutely. However, he shook off these thoughts. He found it much easier to not think of her, it made life… bearable.

"Past midnight," he responded in a raw voice, he soon cursed himself and cleared his throat. Samara narrowed her eyes one her head of house and glared at him. She wasn't happy be woken in the middle of the night and this anger overshadowed her curious nature. She hated to be woken when she was asleep and feeling quite grumpy, she bit down on her lip to avoid saying something stupid that would probably get her in trouble.

"Great way to start my birthday," she muttered to herself. Severus felt suddenly grounded and his anger and grief were suddenly replaced with confusion.

"It's your birthday too?" the last bit of his question slipped away before he had a change to correct himself. He hoped that Samara's anger would overshadow her curiosity, but given the gaze she suddenly through at him he supposed not. He once more cursed himself for his slip of the tongue.

"Fourteen-years old," she muttered with a shrug, looking up at him. For a moment, Severus thought that her curious eyes were an indication that she was about to ask him the impertinent question of how old he was, however, the girls merely stood up and stretched. "Happy Birthday, Professor Snape," she said softly after she had turned and started heading towards the stairs that lead to the dorms.

"Happy Birthday Miss Green," Severus said softly when she'd disappeared up the stairs, grateful that she hadn't asked him what he knew she would have and knowing that she wasn't a gossip and about to tell the whole school that he had a birthday. He noted that she was as enthusiastic about her birthday as he was, and it comforted him.

**TBC…**

**A/N: **Please leave a review!


	3. Magma

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 3: Magma**_

Severus gazed to a group of fourth years who were all gathered around a pair of girls. Luckily all of the fourth years were still quite a bit shorter than him. He was able to skim over all the heads and easily spotted a Griffindor fourth year standing with wand pointed to a disarmed Samara. It wasn't hard to see that the small group of students had gathered around expecting to see a duel.

Casting a glance around, he noted that he was the only adult in the vicinity and therefore the only one with any responsibility to stopping this little misadventure, though he was quite curious to see if Samara would be able to reach her wand before the Griffindor worked up the nerve to do something (as head of Slytherin and considering how much he thoroungly loathed Griffindors, he would be very angry and dissapointed if she did not).

However, he sighed knowing he souldn't let this progress. He had to get his hands dirty and put an end to this. He should have known that the one day he chose to go to Hogsmead in the year that something like _this_ would happen. It was just his luck, he supposed.

"Take it back Green!" the Griffindor was shouting. Lazily, Severus made his way over and through the crowd, which parted like the red sea to allow him to pass. However, the enraged Griffindor did not notice him and Samara had her back to him. Her body was tense, and Severus wondered if it was out of fear or anticipation.

Before he was even five feet away from Samara, she whirled around and upon spotting her wand cart-wheeled to it and picked up, missing a red flash of light as it flew towards her causing students to have to duck out of the way. However, Samara, upon standing up, the inertia of the cart-wheel pushed her forward and made her topple over Professor Snape, landing on top of him on the ground.

Severus groaned for three separate reasons, all of which he was painfully aware of simultaneously when his body was impacted. The first was that it was April and the ground was quite muddy, therefore now _he_ was quite muddy. The second reason was the pain that he felt not only on his back but on his chest and abdomen at having a fifteen year old slam into him and landing painfully on the ground with her light body over his, her knee threatening his manhood, yet luckily not actually causing him harm.

The third reason was the one which angered and pained him most to realize, as he felt every inch of her body resting on him. Suddenly, he was all too aware that a feminine body was definitely hidden beneath the school robes of Samara Green. It was a very soft and supple body that while it had not reached its maturity was definitely a woman's, and to his horror was currently in contract with every inch of his.

Samara quickly got up and with eyes widened in horror looked at her Head of House who had turned an unpleasant botchy red color. Most of the other people had already scattered, fearing the Potions Master's wrath, for which he was well known for. "I'm so sorry Professor Snape, I guess I've become a bit rusty…" Samara said apologetically and shakily.

Severus sat up and glared at the girl. He dug his hand into his robes and pulled out his wand, causing Samara to flinch and fall silent. However, he used it to remove all the mud on his back as he stood up and glared at the thin fifteen years old.

"For the remainder of the year your time at Hogwarts you will not set a foot in Hogsmead," Severus said, his voice shaking in anger. "Is that understood?"

"That's not fair!" Samara fired back as she suddenly stood up. She now reached about his shoulder in height. "That STUPID Griffindor started the whole thing. It's not my fault I fell on you it was an accident and I already said I was sorry!"

"You have just earned yourself a month of detention! Don't dare raise your voice at me!" Severus bellowed. Samara fell silent; however she crossed her arms and glared up at him. "Back to the castle, NOW!"

Samara's chest heaved as she glared at him, her body shaking and waves of anger rolling off her body and burning Severus with her intensity. Her wand-hand was shaking while she clutched it tightly as though she wanted to hex him with every part of her being, her knuckles had turned white-hot; however, she stood there, merely shaking like a leaf. Trembling like an earthquake, more like. "Yes sir," she said through gritted teeth before walking around him and marching very quickly up to the castle.

Severus had to shake himself before he was able to move. He'd never seen the girl so angry before. Actually, if he had to think of it, he very rarely saw her angry. Usually she was quite cheerful. It surprised him that such a dark emotion could be so intensely kept inside the girl, burning softly beneath the sweet façade. She was like a volcano that looked like nothing but a harmless and beautiful mountain. He wondered what else smoldered within her.

**TBC…**

_**Authors Note: **_Please review. The stationary setting is getting nearer, one chapter away actually.


	4. Doubting A Slytherin's Ambition

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 4: Doubting A Slytherin's Ambition**_

Career Advice, a one on one conversation with all of his fifth year students. So far it had been an infuriating disaster and as he waited his next student, he couldn't image it getting any better. Especially as he was waiting for Samara Green, whom ever since the unfortunate incident the previous year he could not stop thinking about and watching.

He became very aware of her anytime she was near. After a full month of nothing but having her glare at him during her detentions, she got over her anger with him. Though, Severus wondered if that had anything to do with the fact that he returned her Hogsmead privileges to her. After that fist month of watching her like an eagle, he realized that he should take advantage of any time she was out of the castle and as far from him as possible, because clearly he could not keep his eyes off her. Try as he might, they were drawn to her like magnets.

At that moment the door of his office opened and the object of his thoughts for the past year walked in, five minutes early to their meeting. Like always, she walked in with her graceful, dance-like way and strolled up to his desk. There was a cheerful smile on her face as she strolled in, the same sweet smile that quite recently seemed to be plaguing his dreams.

Watching her face, he wondered how over the course of a single summer, it had become so beautiful. While he had to admit that she was always pretty, her face had always had such a child-like quality that he hardly even noticed that she was pretty. That was now gone and he was forced to realize that her face was not the only thing to have matured.

While on that most unfortunate day he'd been forced to realize that her body was becoming mature, the curves of her body were still small and had an immature roundness that was so subtle it was lost beneath her robes. Now, to his immense displeasure, when she returned for her fifth year, there was no subtlety in the curves of her body. She had blossomed into a woman and her robes could no longer hide the fact.

He tried his very best not to look at Samara at all, but that was impossible. Every time he gazed at her in a hall, his gaze took in Samara as a whole, making it inevitable to realize that she had filled in. That there were mounds beneath her robes and cloaks. She had also grown, so that now she reached up to his chin and he realized that a long pair of legs was hidden beneath the conservative garb of wizards.

"Good afternoon Professor," Samara said cheerily, taking the seat opposite of him. Severus focused his gaze on the, now 16-eyar-old sitting before him and his gaze hardened. He blamed her for it, for all of it. After so many years of keeping his personal space, there was never before a feeling of being so aware of his body and someone else's. That had changed with Samara falling on top of him.

"You are five minutes early, Miss Green," he reprimanded. Samara raised brow, a very sleek brow that ached nicely over almomd shaped eyes. Her hazel eyes, which were slightly more green than brown, sparkled in what appeared to be amusement. The smile that played on her beautiful pale face was teasing him and he glared at her pretty, little mouth for mocking him.

"I'm sorry, did I disturb your musings? I can come back in five minutes," Samara said gently, the ringing of a charming giggle in her tone. Severed inwardly cursed physical attraction, which clearly twisted everything a person saw to make it appear charming.

Severus sighed in exasperation, but decided to ignore her remark. "As you know, we are supposed to talk about careers and I am supposed to help you perhaps find a field you may be interested in," Severus started out. "You have undoubtedly, unless you are blind, seen the many pamphlets in the common room and unless you are a dolt, perused some of them. Is there anything at all you might be interested in?"

He didn't know what he'd expected. Considering her cheerful and friendly disposition, he thought it might be something in Public Relations. However, he most certainly did not expect her to say something to serious as Healer. "Excuse me?" Severus had to ask to ensure that he'd heard her correctly.

Samara glared at her Head of House as a pink tint came over her face. She knew that he'd heard her perfectly well, and knew what he was on about. When she'd told all her friends that she wanted to be a Healer, they all laughed at her. They said she could be serious or severe enough to be a Healer. It upset her to say the least and infuriated her, to understate things.

"You don't think I can do it either," Samara accused. Severus stared at her blankly before feeling horror seeping into him as he watched her eyes become glassy.

"Oh Merlin, please don't tell me you are going to cry!" Severus muttered. Her eyes widened and suddenly something murderous flashed in her murky gaze.

"You're such a jerk! Why would Professor Dumbledore hire such a sorry excuse of a human being to teach?" Samara cried out angrily before she thought about what she was saying. However, once started, she couldn't stop. "If I want to be a Healer I can do it! I will get an O in every single one of my subjects, watch me!"

With that, she whirled around and stormed from the classroom, banging the door shut behind her. Strangely enough, he wasn't angry when his door slammed closed and he was sitting alone in his dark office. He felt a strange pang to where he thought his scabbed and dead heart was. Suddenly he knew he was in real trouble.

**TBC…**

**A/n:** Please leave a Review! The fixed setting is starting up with the next chapter!


	5. New Year, New Ailment

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 5: New Year, New Ailment**_

She hadn't lied. For the remainder of the year, she did nothing but study and she even started to help out Madame Pomfrey in the Hospital Wing. Suddenly it was as though there was no time in the world for her to smile or laugh or even remove her gaze from a text book or to spend away from the Hospital Wing. She even studied when she ate.

It was as though Samara had vacated her body and some type of somber scholar's soul had taken up residence in her thin body. He hardly recognized her at all anymore. She'd become someone else, a silent kind of monster that scared him with its intense focus. He almost missed the studious and yet carefree, sweet girl that he'd seen grow into a woman before his eyes.

Despite all her studying, he'd remained skeptical that anyone could get perfect scores all across the board. He himself had only missed one. However, to his displeasure, she had. As he made his way down the Slytherin table handing out schedules, he dreaded the gloating and insufferable creature that awaited him. However, as he came to a stop before Samara, that was not what he found.

"Samara," he said when he stood behind her. She slowly turned around and gazed up at him from beneath her long, curly, black lashes. She smiled at him, but the smile did not reach her eyes and her usually happy 'Good morning' sounded strained. There was hollowness to her hazel eyes that caused him pain to see. Once more, the summer had brought about another change in her, and this one he did not like. "Everything required of a Healer?"

Samara merely nodded. Severus frowned at her silence but handed her the schedule. Samara took it with a small smile and muttering weak thanks before she turned away and poked at her uneaten breakfast. Severus wandered away, wondering what was wrong with her and remembering how she hadn't eaten anything the previous night either.

---

"Severus, do you have any idea what's wrong with your student Samara Green?" Severus slowly turned to look at Professor McGonagall. They were halfway into the second week of school and Severus had noted that whatever was wrong with Samara wasn't going to be going away anytime soon.

She'd become very quiet in his class and looked quite pale every time that she was creating her Potions. He noted too that she looked like she was hardly breathing in his class. Whenever he saw her in the hallways, she seemed almost morose and when she tried to smile at someone, it seemed like she had to struggle to do so.

Every time that she spoke, her voice sounded strained, like she was having a hard time keeping her voice steady and the look in her eyes recently was haunting him. There was something hidden in the murky depths of her eyes that worried him. Almost as though there was a crippling pain in her eyes. A crippling pain that she was trying very hard to overcome and beat, but could not escape from, try as hard as she might.

"Why do you ask?" Severus asked, looking towards the Slytherin table, his glance falling on the student that they were currently discussing. She was smiling, and for a brief moment he hoped that she was fine again. However, when he caught her eyes, that same sparkle that shook him down to his core glinted at him.

"She seems different. I mean I know that last year she became very quiet, but that was because she was studying. Now, however, she doesn't smile and seems quite unfocused," McGonagall replied.

Severus merely nodded in response, never taking his gaze away from Samara. She was looking over at a girl that was speaking and smiling, but it was a lie. That smile that she showed to everyone was a lie, and he wondered if he was the only one that noticed it. Once more, Samara was merely picking at her food and he wondered if he'd seen her eat at all. Occasionally, throughout the week he'd seen her eat a spoonful or two throughout a meal and leave the rest on her plate.

"She's going through a depression," Severus and McGonagall both looked over at Madam Pomfrey who was sitting on McGonagall's other side.

"Did she tell you that?" Severus asked. Madam Pomfrey shook her head as she looked over at the Slytherin table worriedly.

"I spent a lot of time with her last year and I'm spending a lot of time with her now, I suppose she confides in me more than any other adult, but not so much that she'll admit to being ill. But all the signs are there. She's hardly sleeping, she isn't eating, she can't focus, and she's always tired," Madam Pomfrey stated.

"Do you think that she is a danger to herself?" McGonagall asked.

"Well I can't say for sure, we should keep an eye on her, however, I don't think so. Samara is a very trusting and strong girl. She's going to try to pull through this on her own and if she can't, she'll tell someone about it," Madam Pomfrey replied.

Severus and McGonagall both turned their attention to their food, both wondering what had caused Samara to go into a depression when she was always such a happy girl.

**TBC… **


	6. Black and White

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 6: Back And White**_

Severus made his way across the grounds towards the castle before he spotted Samara Green sitting on the grounds. It was strange, she seemed to be taking notes, but the strange thing was the position she was in. She had her legs spread out straight before her and her book and parchment on her lap, and she was hunched over what she was writing, her face coming very close to the book and parchment, which really now that he saw were actually resting on her knees. He wondered at how anyone could have enough flexibility to sit like that.

"Shouldn't you be in class?" Severus asked as he walked over, causing Samara to look up at him.

"I don't actually have any after noon classes," she replied. He raised a brow at this, it was a very rare anomaly for a student to have a free afternoon on any given day, let alone a Friday.

"Let me see your schedule," Severus said as he looked down at her with a skeptical glance. Samara merely shrugged and reached into her bag beside her and handed her schedule over to him. Severus quickly glanced at it and realized that she was telling the truth. The only classes she had on Fridays were Defense Against the Dark Arts and Charms and they were both single periods in the morning.

Severus handed the schedule back to her. "How can you sit like that?" he suddenly found himself asking. She looked surprised by his sudden curiosity, but smiled up at him. For a moment, the sad glint in her eyes was gone. The look on her face was purely pleasant and she seemed slightly perked up.

"I was in gymnastic classes most of my childhood. I keep doing it while I've been at Hogwarts and over the summers, though, Hogwarts gets me a bit out of practice," she smiled as she looked up at him. Suddenly he seemed to understand why she was petite in comparison to other girls; gymnast seemed to be smaller than other people. "I'm very flexible; I guess it's why my friends call me Gumby."

"Gumby?" he asked.

"Well, that's what muggles nicknamed me and people started to use it at Hogwarts. I think it's in reference to an animation made of clay, I suppose it's because they thought I was as flexible as clay?" Samara stated, though it sounded more like a question. As though she was slightly unsure by what that meant. Once more he found himself enthralled with her easy ways and he realized that when she was not losing her temper and shouting, that she wasn't just charming but impossible to withstand (meaning she could have anyonetwisted around her little finger).

However, the look of pain seemed to come over her eyes as he saw that something she had said linked to a thought she did not speak of and reminded her of her pain. Severus was unsure of what to say now that he stared down into the girl's eyes. Subtle dark circles could see beneath her wonderful eyes and he was sure that she was trying to cover up the evidence that she wasn't sleeping well.

"I would have thought you'd be with Madam Pomfrey during all your free periods," Severus said as he stared down at her. Samara smiled as she looked up at him.

"Madam Pomfrey thinks that I should spend more time with my friends. She said that there isn't a need for me to be there everyday. I help her on Mondays and Thursdays," she responded, blinking up slowly at him while the sound of Hogwarts bell rang, signifying the end of class. He could see that she was very tired and wondered if it was her lack of sleep, her depression, or a mixture of both things.

"I see," he replied simply, not knowing what else to say. He wondered why conversation did not come easily to him and how it came so easily with Samara, even when she was depressed. He found that quite, well depressing in itself that even through her depression that Samara could have more people skills than he did.

"Professor Snape, what were you doing out here?" Samara suddenly asked. Severus turned to look at the girl that was sitting on the ground, her head tilted so that she was looking up at him with a very curious glint pushing the depression out of her eyes very stubbornly. Something inside him smiled that such simple, light things could combat against something as dark as depression.

"Don't you think that we too are granted a free period during the day?" he asked as he stared at her.

Samara smiled charmingly as she looked at him. "Well that doesn't answer my question. Usually during your breaks I thought it was common for teachers to need heavily caffeinated beverages in the solitude of the teacher's lounge where they can avoid students, yet you are out here talking to _me_. I thought I infuriated you," Samara replied teasingly.

"You do," Severus replied after chuckling lightly at her statement. She didn't seem at all offended by the fact that she infuriated him and smiled all the more brightly at getting him to chuckle if only a little. After all, she was quite sure that everything annoyed and vexed him and therefore couldn't take it too personally. "Talking to you has been purely accidental, something I shall now remedy by leaving."

"I'll walk with you," she said, bouncing up to her feet and grabbing her bag and slinging it over her shoulder. Severus stared at her with a raised brow as she put her things away. She merely smiled at him. "Jessica should be out of Arithmancy by now and Nate from Divination."

Severus merely nodded as together they made their way to Hogwarts. He didn't know why, but he felt so strange walking alongside to someone that was ten years younger than him and his student. The truth was, the age different wasn't very strange as it wasn't a great age difference, however what did bother him was that she was his student. He felt like he was getting to close to the girl.

Actually, he realized it was the manner in which she spoke to him that set him off balance. She spoke to him like he was a teacher that she could talk to like Dumbledore, when he was in fact the very opposite of that. Everything that he did did not in the least welcome this sort of behavior, and yet she seemed to pay no mind at all to that. He guessed that it was her overly sweet nature that allowed that.

"Where are your other friends?" he asked as he stared down at her. There was another four kids that she hung out with from Slytherin. Another girl, whom he believed was named Marietta and three other boys.

"Marietta took Muggle studies with Drake. They thought it would be a good joke," she said with a shrug, however, her voice rang with slight disapproval at her friends. "Tim and Ethan took Ancient Runes."

Severus nodded. He hadn't really cared, however, he didn't know what else to say on their rather long walk towards the castle. However, he was curious to know how she was friends with any of them, though he would never ask her.

Nate Mattthews was such a clown in an immature kind of way that infuriated him to no end. Jessica Harbor seemed very self-centered, Drake Benson reminded him of Potter, Marietta Hawthorne was a bossy and unpleasant girl, and Ethan Christie was just as bossy and arrogant. Tim Elias seemed the only descent one, other than Samara, out of the lot.

"Both classes are double periods this afternoon," she replied.

"What can you possibly speak of to Miss Harbor and Mr. Matthews?" Severus asked, looking over at her. Samara merely shrugged her thin shoulders.

"Jessica does all the talking. Nate kind of just makes funny faces and jokes about her life," Samara said, thinking it was the only thing that made Jessica's stories bearable. However, she had to admit that Nate got on her nerves. All life was a great big joke to him. It very seriously bothered her to no end. "Their not half-so-bad when they are all together in a large group, I suppose because you don't get the full blast of their character," she said when she caught his glance at her as they entered the castle.

However, before she could say anymore or before they parted ways a tall slim boy with spiky black hair and black eyes ran over to them and hid behind Samara as a furious looking blonde-haired, blue eyed girl walked along behind him, stomping her feet angrily. "Protect me Gumby," Nate said as he crouched behind Samara. She was too short for the tall Slytherin seeker to hide behind.

"Samara, look what he did to my hair!" Jessica stomped impetuously as she waved a long sheet of straight, sunshine blonde hair and showed it to Samara. Samara eyed Jessica's hair and grimaced slightly to see that the tips were a rather disgusting orange color.

"Jessica, I'm sure it's removable," Samara said quietly. Severus looked at the three Slytherins and wondered if he and his friends had behaved in such a childlike manner. However, he was sure that not even as first years that they had behaved like such children.

"Mr. Matthews that will be a detention for this Saturday and the same goes for you Miss Harbor," Severus said sternly as he glared at the two Slytherins. "Behave properly, you put our house to shame!"

With that, the Potions Master strode away to his next lesson, which he was surely going to be late for.

**TBC…**

**A/n: **All right! Another chapter woo! Thanks to anyone reviewing, which is really only one person, (you know who you are) and I really apprciate it. Hope you liked the chapter!


	7. Healer in the Making

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 7: Healer in the Making**_

He'd begun to dread Double Potions on Tuesday mornings and not just because it was his seventh year NEWTs class, but because four out of the seven Slytherins he most disliked had managed to scrape an 'O' on their Potions OWLs. All right, if he had to be completely honest, he didn't dislike Samara at all, in fact he probably liked her far more than he should, however, he preferred not to acknowledge that.

Severus cast a wary glance to where the four Slytherins sat, all four in the front row of the class. Marietta Hawthorne, who had curly, dirty-blonde hair and icy blue eyes sat on the very end of the table, next to the middle isle. Next to her sat Ethan Christie, who had silver blonde hair, grey eyes and was currently one of Slytherin's chasers. It was easily apparent that both Slytherins were arguing with each other as they prepared their Potions. Severus couldn't understand how they were friends as both of their bossy personalities caused them to butt heads too much.

Severus looked at Samara, who sat next to Ethan. While she appeared to be very concentrated on her potion, he saw her casting a worried glance every now and then to the two arguing House mates. Severus guessed that like himself, she was worried that because of their argument, one of them would not pay attention to what they were doing and royally mess up their potion, which could possibly be catastrophic as it was a very reactive and dangerous potion.

Ah yes, and he'd forgotten about Timothy Elias, who sat all the way at the end. next to Samara. The boy with curly brown hair, dark chocolate eyes and was also a chaser on the Slytherin team. All right he didn't particularly hate the boy as the boy was rather quiet and didn't do anything that particularly angered him, except perhaps the fact that he was overly attentive of Samara. Severus could see that the boy had an attachment to the girl that had nothing to do with friendship.

The other boys all treated Samara like she was a younger sister to be protected and such, but he knew that they were not romantically interested in the girl. It had never bothered him when she was younger the way that they all seemed to give her piggy back rides, or tickle her or touch her in any physical way, however, now, for some reason it bugged him.

Thankfully, that had stopped. Though Severus found that the reason they'd probably stopped was because of Samara's depression. She didn't seem to want to be touched, something that was quite evident when Timothy Elias tried to touch her shoulder and shrugged his hand away.

Timothy responded to this by looking slightly hurt, and of course Samara had profusely apologized and made up an excuse that her shoulder felt very sore and she didn't want to be touched. Severus knew that she was lying, he could see it in her eyes; however, Timothy didn't seem to notice anything and went back to his Potion. Severus wondered why all of a sudden she didn't want to be touched.

Severus turned his gaze away from the four Slytherins and looked around at the rest of his NEWT class. There were only about two Griffindors in the class, one Hufflepuff and five Ravenclaws. All in all, the class was larger than he'd actually expected, but he was in the least pleased that he wasn't stuck with very many Hufflepuffs and Griffindors.

He didn't so much mind the Ravenclaws, because most of them, he noted, actually paid attention to what they were doing. They concentrated and nothing but their potion and hadn't caused any accidents so far. The Hufflepuffs, while hardworking, did not stop them from having accidents and the Griffindors just grated on his every nerve. They were particularly insolent, something he remedied by docking an immense amount of points and handing out detentions left and right.

At least that got them to pipe down and glower and seethe beneath the surface rather than have the audacity to insult him. Really, he'd always hated Griffindors. When he was in school, he always noted that, despite the fact that teachers were supposed to be fair and award points accordingly, he always felt that Slytherin got the short end of the stick.

All the teachers had always been prejudiced against the Slytherins. Perhaps they didn't do it on purpose or consciously, but they did do it. It seemed that whenever he answered something correctly in a class, all he would get was a nod, but if a Griffindor or a Hufflepuff answered something correctly, well then it is five points for their house. Severus often hoped that the reason that was, was because no one expected Hufflepuffs or Griffindors to get things right, while it was expected of Slytherins and Ravenclaws.

Turning his musings back to the present were he was no longer a student but a teacher, he'd long started to favor his Slytherins. During his first year or two while teaching, he tried to be fair. However, when he started to note how low the emeralds in the Slytherin hour glass were at the end of each year, he decided that when Slytherins did something wrong he would look the other way and when they did something right, he would highly reward them and reward them at every small thing.

It wasn't fair, he knew it and he knew that he'd already gained the reputation about being partial to his house; however, what was anyone going to do about it? Certainly Professor Dumbledore had not said anything to him about, nor any of the other teachers for that matter. Severus had a sneaking suspicion was because they all did not want to confront the truth about the fact that they were unfair to the Slytherins.

While teachers were not partial as he was to any one house, he was sure that they had all noted that they were all impartial to the Slytherins. Severus was just evening things out, and they seemed to realize this and not say a word about it. It pleased Severus to no end when he docked points away from other houses in the presence of other teachers and awarded his students points. It was almost as though he wanted them to say something to him so that he could throw it back in their faces. However, no one ever said anything. They just pursed their lips and walked away, which he enjoyed just as much.

Suddenly, however, a small explosion seemed to occur and Severus had to make his way to the front row, shaken out of his thoughts rather rudely. He could see that Marietta's cauldron had exploded, showering her and Ethan with something very clear. Severus grimaced as he watched the two begin to grow large rashes on their skin.

He looked over to Timothy and Samara, who were both standing still, gaping at their house mates who had fallen to the floor. Neither one was harmed; he guessed that Ethan's frame had covered them from harm. Luckily, no one other than the two Slytherins had been harmed, however, Severus had to grimace further was he saw that whatever was causing their skin to rash, made them itchy.

He watched in disgust as Ethan reached up and tried to scratch and pealed some of his skin off. "Don't scratch yourself," Samara said as she kneeled down and tried to hold his arms down. She looked over at Marietta and could see that she was trying to scratch. "Damn it Marietta I said don't," she said as she pulled out her wand and caused Marietta's hands to be pinned to the ground. "Stop Fidgeting Ethan."

"Timothy, help Miss Green take these two to the Hospital Wing," Severus said, turning to look at the boy. He wasn't equipped to deal with this. While he could handle other things, many other things, he didn't actually know what to do with this particular situation as he was not a Healer.

"That's not necessary Professor Snape," Samara said as she cleared the liquid from her friends face. She than proceeded to mutter something as she pointed her wand to Ethan's face and than Marietta's, very slowly, the rashes on their skin started to disappear and the skin started to heal itself.

In a few minutes, both Slytherins were able to stand up. "Good thing you spend so much time in the hospital wing, Gumby," Ethan said, smiling his toothy grin at Samara and patting her hard on the back once he was able to stand up. Samara merely nodded, however, frowned at the force with which she'd been patted. Ethan often forgot his own strength. Marietta did not thank her, which wasn't unexpected, she just ran her hands over her face and sighed in relief.

"Would either of you like to explain what happened?" Severus said in a low and murderous voice. Marietta and Ethan both turned to look at their Head of House, but neither said a word. Severus sighed in exasperation. "You both have detention," Severus said before walking away. He had the feeling he was giving a lot more detentions to his house lately.

**TBC…**


	8. Frightening Questions

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 8: Frightening Questions**_

Severus paused in the doorway of the teachers lounge the following Friday after lunch during his free period. "Good afternoon Severus," Professor Flitwick said as he looked up from the game of chess that he was playing.

Severus stared from the small Charms Professor to the girl that was currently sitting across from him, staring with all the attention and seriousness in the world at the chess board. Samara's black hair was tied up like always, but those two strands still hung lose over her deeply furrowed brows. After long deliberation she picked up her rook and moved it.

"Ah, my dear girl, you're far too impulsive, always think three steps ahead," Flitwick said as he moved his knight. "Check mate."

Samara sighed and sat back, before casting a glance at Severus. She smiled lightly at him. "Good afternoon Professor Snape," she said politely as she looked over at him. Severus merely nodded in acknowledgement before stepping into the room and closing the door behind himself.

"Why are you playing normal chess as appose to Wizards Chess?" Severus found himself asking. Samara looked up and smiled that smile that never reached her eyes anymore.

"Professor Flitwick would prefer that, but I think it's far too violent," Samara replied as she looked up at him. Severus furrowed his brow at this as he went over and sat down at the couch. It was then that Flitwick got up as he seemed to realize that lunch was over.

"It was very nice to play with you again, I hope we play again sometime soon," he said to Samara with a smile before curtly nodding at Severus and hurriedly scuttling out of the room. He was going to be late to his next Charms class!

Samara smiled as she watched her favorite, tiny little Professor leave quickly. Severus watched the girl intently as she stood up; there was something in her that seemed momentarily warmed up. Like something had reached her heart and reminded her why she used to be happy, however, whatever it was quickly vanished before it was once more replaced with pain.

Slowly, she turned her gaze to the Potions Master and smiled lightly at him. "Well Professor Snape, I suppose you wanted to be alone with a heavily caffeinated beverage," she said, teasing him lightly. Severus almost smiled as he looked at her and wondered why she always teased him and why he always let her tease him. Severus merely nodded. She was about to turn to leave when she suddenly stopped and turned to look at him. "Professor Snape… may I ask you a question?"

"You just have and I have a one question per day quota," he replied. Samara smiled as she looked at him.

"All right, I'll bug you about it tomorrow," she said with a light shrug of her thin shoulders before turning around and walking out of the teachers lounge. Severus furrowed his brow as he watched her walk out of the room.

---

"Professor Snape," Severus nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the loud voice at his side. He knew he never really liked October, even on the very first day it seemed to bring ill omens. He glared at Samara Green as she walked along side him, cursing her light and apparently mute steps. How was it possible that the girl could walk so silently?

"Yes, Miss Green?" he asked impatiently as he made his way down towards the dungeons. Dumbledore honestly infuriated him sometimes. Suggesting that he take Trelawney up on her offer to go star gazing with her! Was the man out of his mind?

"I came to ask you my question," she replied, slightly warily, knowing that he was in one of his moods.

"Yes, I had already deducted that, hurry it up Miss Green before I lose my patience," he said through gritted teeth as they walked.

"Do you think there is something wrong with me?" she found herself asking. Severus turned his gaze to look down at her and furrowed his brow.

"Well you don't seem yourself…" he started out.

"That's not what I mean," she said, down casting her gaze, furrowing her brow. A troubled look came over her face as she stared in agony down at her feet, while walking alongside him in the corridor. "I mean is there something wrong with me? Am I… someone that a man wouldn't be able to love?"

"Miss Green, I hardly believe I should be the person you should ask about this," he said uncomfortably, but trying to remain his cool and distant tone.

"But you're the only person I _can _ask. You're a man; my friends are all immature and would lie to me. Dumbledore and Flitwick are too fatherly about me and well, you are the only man I trust to be brutally honest," she replied as she looked at him. There was a very grim expression on her face as she spoke.

Severus stiffened as he quickened his steps, his jaw shutting tight and his lips pressed together in a tight line. This was certainly not the question that he'd expected and it was certainly not one he even wanted to answer to himself, let alone her. The truth was, he thought that she was perfect, but he couldn't let her know that. It was something he grudgingly aknowledged himself.

"As your Professor and Head of House, Miss Green, it would be completely unethical for me to answer such a question. But I assure you that there is nothing much wrong with you, you are a very normal, teenage girl," he stated as tersely as he walked. "Now if you'll excuse me," he said, quickening his space so that it almost seemed like he was flying down the hall.

He walked into the office and closed the door behind himself, leaning against it and grimacing. He was going to have to put up further borders around himself, especially when it came to Samara Green. She was getting to him and he did not like that at all.

**TBC…**

**A/N:** Sorry about the long wait and short chapter. I know what's going to happen in the story but my brain is going dry on events leading there. I hope that the next chapter will be more satisfying. Please Review.


	9. Happier Halloweens

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 9: Happier Halloweens**_

To Severus' immense relief, October slipped away without further incident or hitch. While Samara was still her usual, new self, trying to smile bravely at the world and fool it into believing that she was happy when really she was drying inside, Severus was glad that she didn't precede the matter which she'd asked him of any further. Instead, she rather seemed to try and avoid his gaze, and Snape guessed that she was bashful to have revealed such a weakness in her character.

Severus cast a brief glance around the hall, which was decorated so very nicely by Dumbledore, Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall for the Halloween feast. Slowly, his glance slipped across the Jack-o-lantern- lit Great Hall to the Slytherin table. He knew what he was searching for before he'd ever even decided to look up from his plate.

Samara was sitting slumped over her meal, smiling weakly at what her friends were all boisterously speaking about around her, while picking at her food. His mind flashed to the previous years he'd been teaching there. He'd seen Samara a couple of times before during the Halloween feast and she always seemed just as energetic as her friends.

The happy sparkle in her eyes positively danced with joy and the happiness radiated from her was akin to the warmth from a large bonfire. However, as he sat there watching her, he could see that there was something dampened about her. Before she shined as bright as the sun, and now it was as though she were permanently eclipsed by a moon, or blotted out by heavy rain clouds that would not cease to torment.

"Poor thing," Severus looked up to see that Madam Pomfrey had followed his gaze and was also staring at the young girl. "You know, she broke down in front of me just yesterday, told me that a man had broken her heart over the summer."

It took a moment for Severus to process this. He guessed that would explain for much, including the question she'd asked that he'd not found the ability to answer. _Am I… someone a man wouldn't be able to love?_ The question had tormented him endlessly. He grimaced to think that someone as great as Samara would allow a foolish moron to undermine her self-esteem and confidence.

"Miss Green, break down?" Severus asked, trying to focus on something other than the anger he felt towards the man who had dared break Samara's heart. He wanted to altogether ignore the reasons that he felt overly-protective of her and decided that he should only pursue this with the interest required of him as her Head of House.

"I'd never seen it before and it shocked me; she's such a very strong girl, but yes. I suppose something triggered a painful memory of him and she could no longer keep it all in," the matron responded, worriedly gazing at Samara. Severus watched the Healer, wondering if she would take much notice if he used Legilimens to see what exactly had happened.

"What happened?" Severus asked, not sounding too greatly interested and turning his attention to his food, which he no longer had the stomach for, to keep from seeming too involved. Madam Pomfrey sighed. She had to tell Severus the whole truth, she guessed as he was the girl's Head of House and was best apt to keep an eye on her and make sure that the girl did not harm herself.

"I was allowing her to treat a seventh year Hufflepuff with minor injuries, and I suppose she saw the girl with her boyfriend. The poor thing started to shake all over. I couldn't get her to stop crying for over an hour and it was a little hard to understand the story," Madam Pomfrey explained, matter-of-factly and yet with a worried tint in her tone. "She fell for her gymnast instructor, rather fast and hard. The man simply used her and than told her that she was simply not what he thought she was, that she was naive."

Severus gritted his teeth as he glared down at his meal. Yes, he'd once stated that Samara was naïve and he supposed it to be true if she'd allowed herself to believe that this man had loved her. However, there was nothing wrong with the fact that she was naïve, it wasn't even really naivety but innocence and that innocence should have been protected and adored! Not to be exploited for their own personal ends!

"What do you propose should be done?" Severus asked, looking up at Madame Pomfrey, who turned her wizened eyes to him. She guessed that as Severus had only been teaching at Hogwarts for five years now, that this was the first time he had to deal with one of his students in a depression. Understanding his lack of experience in the field, she smiled kindly at him.

"Well, Samara is young. Time should heal her wounds; after all, how many of us really know what love is, especially in our teenage years? Perhaps she'll realize that it wasn't love and find another, perhaps she won't recover for a long time, all we can do is watch and make sure she doesn't worsen," Madam Pomfrey said, slowly turning her gaze to the Slytherin table.

Severus turned away from the Healer and followed her gaze. Samara continued to pick at her food, smiling very weakly. For a moment, he felt a strong connection to her, as he was sure that anyone who'd ever had a bad experience their first time in love would understand. Everyone had gone through it, most were strong enough to surpass that first love and learn from it. He hoped with all his might that she was one of those people.

**TBC…**

**A/N: **All right, I hope you all liked the chapter! Please review!


	10. Everyone's Favorite

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 10: Everyone's Favorite**_

"Good evening Severus," Severus looked up and wondered what the hell Aurora Sinistra was doing standing outside of Slytherin. She was a tall and very thin Professor who was perhaps only a few years younger than him. Severus hardly remembered Aurora from school, but he knew that she'd been in his house, though a year or two beneath him.

"Aurora," he said nodding curtly in her direction. He was making his rounds and was about to step into Slytherin to make sure that no one was out as it was just curfew.

"I was supposed to meet Samara here, but I think that perhaps she has forgotten," she said as she looked at him. Her eyes were as dark as his, but seemed much enhanced with the dark makeup she wore around her eyes. Her raven hair, as always, was tied up in a very tight bun and hidden beneath her green hat.

"What were you meeting her for?" he asked, not knowing a reason why the girl would be meeting the Astronomy Professor, it wasn't like she was taking her class.

"I came across her the other day and asked her why she didn't take my class and I thought that she really should've considered taking it, she said that she would get back to me," Aurora replied. Severus stared at the woman he'd been teaching alongside for the past several years. Aurora had started teaching at Hogwarts the year before he had and in all the years that she'd been there, he'd never known her to ask a student to take her class.

"You want her to continue to take your class?" he asked, raising a brow as he stared at her. Aurora seemed a little put off by the way that he asked the question and raised a brow as she looked at him, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What do you think that my subject is not important?" she asked, through her narrowed gaze. Severus gritted his teeth together, Professor Sinistra was known for her foul temper, at least amongst her colleagues. She was one of the few people he did not enjoy pissing off as she was capable of screeching like a banshee, certainly not something very pleasant.

McGonagall's anger, he could take; however, Aurora Sinistra was a completely different story. "I merely meant that I've never seen you insist to any student about taking your class," he responded, pacifying the star-gazer.

"Well, Samara is such a sweet girl. She did fairly well in my class and I've notice that she seems a bit down, lately," Aurora replied. Severus stared at Aurora, if someone as a oblivious and hardly-ever-present as Aurora could see that there was something wrong with Samara, then he guessed that this was much more serious then he'd thought. However, he wondered just how many teachers were so fond of Samara.

"Would you like me to see if she is awake?" Severus asked.

"If you'd be so kind," she said simply. Severus merely nodded curtly at her and walked past her and into the common room. He wasn't surprised that it was nearly empty. "Up to your dormitories now," he called out to the ones that were still hanging about. A couple of seventh years stood up and hurried to their dorms, wishing a quick good night to their Head.

He was pleased that the Slytherins had learned to respect him. But he guessed that was because the students, most of them he'd had since they were first and second and third years. Having had them since then, these were the first he was able to instill fear in. When he had just started teaching at Hogwarts all the older students were so defiant of him, even his own students.

However, most of the older students now were much younger when he'd first started to teach there and he'd been able to instill fear in them. But he guessed that wasn't the only reason that they respected him. Actually, he was sure some of them were fond of him as he was balancing out the score sheet and for the first time in at least a decade, Slytherin was actually in the running for the house cup. Last year they'd come in second.

Severus cast a brief look around and raised a brow when he spotted Samara Green, once more sleeping at a table as he'd found her that night on their birthday several years ago. He had a feeling of _Déjà vu _as he quickly strode across the room to where she was sitting. He shivered at the sight of her slumped figure over an open Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Wasn't that the same thing she'd fallen asleep on the last time? He wondered to himself as he was about to call out her name. However, to his surprised, she jumped up at the sound of his walking over to her. He furrowed his brow, since when had she become such a light sleeper? Last time he remembered that he had to shake her in order to wake her up, was his walking so loud now?

"Hello Professor Snape," she said as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She looked so tired, he grimaced at the pity he felt for the poor girl. Was she getting thinner?

"Professor Sinistra would like a quick word with you," Severus stated as he looked down at her, slightly irked that the top of her head now reached his chin. She stopped rubbing her eyes and turned a wide eyed look at him.

"OH No! I must've kept her waiting!" she said, feeling horribly guilty. She was very fond of Professor Sinistra, who'd always been very easy to get along with. Samara guessed it was because the teacher was so young.

"Are all the teachers so fond of you?" Severus asked, a little irritated. Samara turned her hazel eyes up at him. In the Slytherin common room, they appeared to be brighter green than brown, and he guessed that was because of the lake. However, it was hard not to get caught in her eyes as they appeared so mesmerizing.

She smiled at him. "Well most of the ones I've had I suppose so," she replied. "Though, I think Madam Hooch was vexed about how weak I was and that I couldn't ride a broom even though I was nimble," Samara said a little sadly, shrugging. "She still scares me a little."

Severus looked away amused. "Yes, the piercing Hawk-gaze," he said, thinking of his first year at Hogwarts. He too had been intimidated by Rolanda Hooch. Even now he avoided the woman.

Samara giggled lightly, the pain dissapearing from her gaze. "Doesn't it feel like she's going to eat you, like you're just a desert mouse?" Samara asked. Severus couldn't help but smile at this; however, he turned away from her, not wanting her to see. "Fist year was great. I used to climb onto Hagrid's back, he used to call me a little spider, sometimes he had a hard time getting me off, he couldn't reach me," she said, laughing once more.

Severus slowly turned to look at Samara and smiled. This was the first time he'd seen her laugh in what felt like ages. He guessed that depression couldn't have a constant hold upon someone, especially not someone like Samara. However, he knew that just because she could laugh, didn't mean she was fine yet.

"Do you think that you'll actually continue to take Astronomy?" he asked. Samara looked up at him and bit down on her lip.

"Well I've missed a lot in the past two months and I'd have to make up a lot of work, but I can't sleep as it is, so might as well do something productive with my insomnia," she said, shrugging her thin shoulder and smiling crookedly. It was a smile he had never before seen, but found just as charming as any other she had. He wondered if it was because she was so tired. "I suppose I should go speak to her."

"Yes you should, but I want you straight in bed afterwards," he said, turning around and leading the way towards the door.

"Do you like me Professor Snape?" Samara asked as she walked along behind him. Severus turned and looked at Samara, looking a little horrified by her question. She seemed to take his horrification as something else. "Well, you're the only Professor I'm unsure of. But if you do, then I'm sure you'll know that all of my teachers like me," she said, smiling lightly as she walked past him and out of the common room.

Severus stood there for a moment, feeling his heart hammering in his chest. For a moment, he'd thought that perhaps she'd known that…

**TBC…**

**A/N: **All right, that's all for now! Thank you for everyone wonderful enough to review! I hope you liked the chapter.


	11. Ask Me Questions

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 11: Ask Me Questions  
**_

The first Quidditch game of November took place in the second week. Samara sprinted down the hallway, groaning because she was going to be late. For the past two months she kept waking up and violently throwing up. She didn't care very much for she always felt that her health was a little off. However, needing to throw up just before she was heading out of Slytherin to meet her friends! She was sure she was going to be late, now.

Her eyes went wide as she suddenly skidded to a stop when she saw that a door was opening, however, it was too late and she fully slammed into it, falling to the ground quite painfully and slamming her head on the stoned floor. "Ouch," she muttered as she lay on the ground. She groaned for a moment as she lay there, staring at the ceiling, all of her back feeling very sore.

It was just an _oh-so-perfect_ Saturday. First she was late to meet her friends, now she might need to head down to the hospital wing and then her friends would kill her for not going to their first game in the Quidditch season. Ethan and Drake would both be furious, Nate would just make fun of her for not being able to make it down to the field without getting hurt and Tim, Tim would look at her with disappointment all over his puppy dog, chocolate eyes.

She lay there lost in her thoughts in the moment, not having the energy to stand up. And she didn't right see a reason to. If it wasn't for the nausea that forced her to rush to the washroom to throw up and six in the morning every day, she guessed that she would never get up out of bed. It was far too difficult.

"Miss Green, are you all right?" Severus asked as soon as he peeked around the door of his Private stores and noticed that Samara had run right into it. He hurriedly rushed to her side and kneeled beside her, concerned if she had hit her head against the stone floor and wondering why she was just lying there, not moving.

"I don't know, hold three fingers in front of my face to see if I can count how many you are holding up," Samara said, trying to keep a straight face and succeeding at sounding dead serious.

Severus hardly heard what she said, but realized too late that she was joking for he held up the three fingers. Samara rolled to her side and started to laugh. Severus turned a blotchy shade of red as he stood up. "I suppose you're perfectly fine," he said through gritted teeth as he watched her lying on her side on the floor, cracking up laughing. "Get off the floor Miss Green," he said imperiously.

Samara lay back onto her back and sighed, trying to catch her breath. "Actually Professor, I hit my head a little hard, think you can help me up? I might get lightheaded and fall back," Samara said, her tone very serious and stern. She almost reminded him of Pomfrey for a moment.

He regarded the girl that was lying on her back warily for a couple of seconds. He'd have to touch her again? He sighed once more before bending over and reaching out for her arm, which he took steadily and helped her to her feet. She did falter for a moment, and he had to grasp onto her arm more tightly, looking worriedly at his student.

She shut her eyes tight against the sudden wooziness she felt. "Are you all right?" she was vaguely aware of Professor Snape asking her. She smiled at her head of house when she opened her eyes. He always seemed concerned about her lately, she wondered why that was. Although, she almost laughed at herself for the thought, it was bloody obvious why almost every teacher looked and her with so much concern. It wasn't like she was oblivious to how they were all watching her.

She was very fond of them all, but she wanted them to leave her alone and stop worrying. She'd gone through heart-ache before, sure it had never before been so extreme and this was certainly a different kind of heartache, but she was sure that she would make it through. It wasn't as though she was going to make any plans to quit.

"I think so, ask me questions, just in case I got a concussion," she said as she reached to the back of her head and set her hair lose. The bun she'd put it up in today was a very tight and well-made one, compared to the usually sloppy ones she hurriedly made. However, it was beginning to add to the pain of her already slightly throbbing scull.

"Why were you running through the halls, it's against school rules," he said as he stared down at her, trying not to think about how beautiful she looked with her raven hair lose. Samara squinted as a particularly nasty shock racked through her brain.

"OH yeah, I have to go down to the Quidditch field. I was late to meeting Jessica and Marietta in the entrance hall so that we could go down to the pitch together," she responded, staring to pull him down the hallway. "We're going to be late, Slytherin is playing against Griffindor!"

"Shouldn't we get you to the hospital wing?" he asked, wondering why this short, young woman was pulling him along. GIRL, his mind corrected him. Though, the logical side of his brain stated that Samara was actually nearing the wizarding age of adulthood. In a mere couple of months, she would be a legal adult. However, these thoughts were easily shaken off as he was concerned about the girls' health.

"It's a minor head injury, I'll perform a check up once we're there, but if I'm late Ethan and Drake will _kill_ me," she said. Severus walked along, wondering why she was still holding onto him. He was going to head down to the game as well before she'd ran into the door; however, he didn't think that he liked being dragged there by one of his students.

Ethan and Drake, he guessed that they would be the ones to get angry. After all, Drake was the captain and keeper and Ethan was a chaser. He pictured Timothy Elias, another chaser; that boy would have probably become morose and depressed if god-forbid Samara didn't show up for his game to cheer him on. Knowing Nate Matthews, who was the seeker, the clown would probably care the least, or just torture Samara with his annoying jester jokes and tricks.

"It isn't necessary that you hold onto me, you hardly have to pull me along," he said once he was walking alongside her down the hallways.

"I'm holding on because I feel light headed," she said a bit irritated. "I told you to ask me questions, I'm getting sleepy."

"If you're getting sleepy we should take you to see Madam Pomfrey," Severus said. However, he stopped and wondered what he was saying. He was the adult and authority figure here! He didn't have to ask her permission!

"Or it could be because of the lack of sleep," she retorted. However, she suddenly came to a stop and held her head.

"Come on, we're taking you to the hospital wing," he said.

"NO!" she said defiantly, her anger flaring up as it had on two previous occasions that he recalled most clearly. He raised a brow at this, he wasn't in the mood to argue.

"Miss Green, we could do this the easy way or we could do this the hard way," he said in a lazy drawl as he turned to look at her. Samara suddenly doubled over laughing. "Well you asked for it," he said as he scooped her up in his arms, she was as light as ever, perhaps more so as she seemed to have lost a bit of weight. However, that did not stop the way that each part of him that touched her burned and tingled.

He paid it no mind, setting off down the hallways very quickly. However, it was a little hard to ignore the way her small little arms had slipped around his neck out of horror that he might drop her. She leaned her head against his chest and closed her eyes. "Sudden movements make me nauseous, you should have warned me," she complained as she buried her face in his chest, to avoid seeing anything and ignore the motion sickness that she felt.

Severus felt his breathing hitched to have her head resting against him. His head hardly even hovered over hers and he could vaguely smell the woman-child that he held in his arms. He could actually smell her if he dipped his head slightly, and no surprise at all to him, he found that she smelled very good. It was some kind of fruity smell that he didn't recognize.

"I did warn you, you wouldn't listen," he responded very curtly, his voice very terse.

"You smell like wormwood," Samara said.

"I'm sorry I don't smell appealing to you Miss Green, I am a Potions Master," he said very sarcastically, his voice dripping with disdain.

"I wasn't complaining," Samara said sleepily, leaning her head against him and breathing in deeply. "It's nice."

**TBC…**

**A/N: **All right, new chapter. WOot! Anyway, please Review!


	12. The Big News

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 12: The Big News**_

"Severus, stay a moment," Madam Pomfrey said after she cured the girl, whom did have a mild concussion and allowed her to fall of sleep. She was so tired from lack of sleep. Severus turned around and wondered why she wanted him to stay. He didn't object, because he really did want to stay, but as her Head of House, he was only expected to stay there for a moment and make sure that she was fine. If he'd stayed it would have looked strange.

Severus watched as Madam Pomfrey performed a series of tests on the sleeping girl. After several moments she turned to Severus. "Samara has been throwing up every morning," she stated.

"She's bulimic?" Severus asked dryly, trying not to sound very interested or invested. Though he was, very. Might explain the loss of weight, though, it wasn't like she was eating very much.

"Well that's what I thought too. Aurora knows the girl well, apparently Samara has had boyfriends in the past, mainly Griffindors it seems and that's why no one has known about them, what with the House rivalry," Severus nodded, feeling the vein in his temple throbbing. What was she trying to get at? And he didn't see why he needed to listen to this bit of information.

"Forgive me, but I don't see what you want me to know," Severus said.

"Aurora says that the girl was never sexually active, however, recently the girl has taken up Astrology and confessed to Aurora that just before she returned to Hogwarts the man that she thought she'd fallen in love with… well you understand what I'm trying to say," she said as she looked up at him.

"Yes, but I don't understand why _you_ are telling _me_," Severus said, gritting his teeth. He did not need to know that Samara was sexually awakened. She was his student. That was simply far too much info! However, he knew that his anger actually stemmed from the fact that the man had abused Samara, and it was abuse because clearly if the man was her gymnast instructor he was older than her and Samara had been underage. She was still underage!

The man was in the position of control and power and even if it was Samara's idea, the man would have still been guilty of Statutory rape. By law, Samara was not yet of age to be able to consent to sexual activity. Besides, the man was an authority figure to the girl, and he had a responsibility to protect her. It simply outraged Severus.

"Because as her head of house you should know that Samara is pregnant, I just tested her myself. All the symptoms we thought were depression, are actually symptoms of pregnancy," she said, looking at the dark haired man who became pale.

Severus cleared his throat after a long moment of silence. His thoughts were far too muddled. "Does she know?" Severus asked.

"Know what?" Samara asked sleepily as she raised her head. She was sure she'd only been sleeping for about half and hour, but that wasn't any different from what she was able to sleep lately. Both teachers both turned to look at the teenage girl. She furrowed her brow as she looked at the way they looked at her so warily. "I'm not depressed. Well a little, but not the I'm not eating and sleeping because of it!" she said, feeling annoyed by how all the teachers were treating her, like she was some delicate mental-case.

"Why aren't you eating Samara?" Madam Pomfrey said, causing Samara to look over at her Mentor.

"I feel nauseous and can't stomach the food," she replied with a shrug, narrowing her eyes in accusation towards the woman. What wa she getting at?

Severus and Madam Pomfrey exchanged looks, wondering if she really didn't know or thought that they didn't and didn't want them to know."Do you feel more tired and sleepy than usual?" Pomfrey asked. Samara furrowed her brows.

"Yes, but I suppose that's because I'm not sleeping well. Insomnia keeps me up and then I wake up very early in the morning because I feel sick," Samara said, shrugging her shoulders, wondering why they were staring at her so pitifully.

"Have you missed you period?" Madam Pomfrey asked. Severus had to look away at this, did he really have to be there for this? Samara tossed her head of house a look as she blushed furiously. She wondered if the Healer was just trying to embarass her now. "Answer the question Samara," Madam Pomfrey said sternly. Samara turned to look at the Healer.

"Sometimes it skips a month, I have a very irregular period, but… well I was supposed to get it in the first week of November, so I guess that is the third one I've missed," she said very quickly, hoping that Professor Snape wasn't paying attention. Try as he might, there was nothing that he could think of that would make his hearing stop.

Poppy looked at her little apprentice with furrowed brows. It was starting to become apparent that the child really had no idea that she was pregnant. She grimaced as she realized that she would have the unhappy job of telling the child that she'd gotten pregnant from her first time, by a man who was a jerk and had dumped her slightly after he'd used her. "Samara dear… you're pregnant."

Samara inhaled sharply as she sat up and stared at the Healer. She furrowed her brows and looked from one teacher to the other, noticing that they were both avoiding her gaze. She looked down at her hands for a moment. "No, I can't be… I can't be pregnant," she said, shaking her head, feeling tears welling up in her eyes. "No… he used protection, I saw the bastard use protection," she said, her voice shaking and cracking with sobs she would not allow to rip from her throat.

Severus turned to look at Samara and felt his heart breaking. Samara had never uttered a curse before, however, he could only imagine how painful this was for her and understood that she was quite at a loss. "Muggle protection is very unreliable," Madam Pomfrey said delicately.

Samara shuddered as the tears finally broke the damn and started to rush down her face. Severus looked away, feeling very uncomfortable. He always hated to see people cry, usually he deemed tears as something undignified to show to someone else, however, it wasn't Samara's fault. None of it was her fault and he couldn't blame her for it. Yet, that did not take away from the need to want to rush out of there.

But he was rooted to the spot, and he didn't know why. A part of him wanted to try and console her, to get her to stop, but he had no idea how to do that and wouldn't allow himself to. His heart broke as he heard her soft sobs, he was vaguely aware of Madam Pomfrey making her way over to Samara's side and holding the girl in her arms. He cast a brief glance over at Samara, who was being held to Madam Pomfrey's chest and rocked back and forth as the older woman cooed softly to the young woman who appeared so child-like in her sobbing.

"What am I going to do?" she asked softly, her voice cracking as she continued to cry.

"There are always options…"

"I can't. It's a human, another human, a child. It's not its fault," Samara cried, making it quite obvious that she would certainly not have the heart to abort the baby. Severus expected as much, Samara was such a sweet girl. She seemed almost incapable of hurting anyone; he couldn't imagine her killing a baby, no matter how much she may have grown to hate the father.

"Well then you must learn to calm yourself Samara, because emotional upheavals are not good for the babe," Madam Pomfrey said a little gently. Samara nodded at this as she sat up and took in several deep breaths, wiping away the tears from her face.

"I don't want anyone to know," she said when she was able to find her voice. It was a little hoarse now from the crying.

"Of course not, but now there is a lot we need to talk about…"

**TBC…**

**A/N: **Well that's the new Chapter. Hope it's a little cleared now, her heartache that is. Anyway, please review!


	13. Your Special Magic

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 13: Your Special Magic**_

"Professor Snape," Severus looked up and found that Samara was standing before his desk. He stared at her with a raised brow and motioned for her to continue while looking through his papers. "I was wondering if I could ask you a favor." Severus looked up at Samara and raised a brow.

"You could ask, I can use some amusement for today," he said sourly as he looked up at her. Though he was almost sure that anything that she could possibly ask of him he would do. Samara smiled, perhaps for the first time in a week, ever since she had found out the news that she was pregnant. She looked very tired lately, though because of a potion that she was taking lately, she was able to stomach food and was eating well. Though, her first trimester was going to be over soon, so she wouldn't need the potion for much longer.

"I'm falling behind in most of my classes, but I can deal with them and if I need the extra help I know that most of my Professors will help, but Professor Default… well I need some extra tutoring in Defense Against the Dark Arts," Samara said with a shrug as she looked at him pleadingly with her eyes.

Severus stared into her hazel eyes and thought about his colleague. Professor Default was a horrible professor. He was like Binns, but with an attitude problem. He lectured on and on about nothing, wasn't any help in the practical part and if his students failed, there was nothing he would do to help. He seemed to believe he was the best teacher in the world and if his students weren't doing well it was no fault of his. Dumbledore was itching to fire him.

He looked down into Samara's eyes and could see that she was staring at him, waiting and hoping that he would say yes. He stared at her beautiful face, her pleading eyes, the worried way her thin black brows were stitched together over her beautifully large eyes. Two strands of hair framed her pretty face and contrasted against the white-marble tone of her soft skin. The rest of her hair was held in a high ponytail, and she actually seemed to be her age. She looked like someone about to turn seventeen and not like a child.

He wondered as he stared at her, if it was because she was pregnant, however, she wasn't showing at all. Then again, Samara had always been a thin girl to begin with and she was only about nearly four months along. Her school robes would probably be able to hide her stomach quite well until she was about six months along. He couldn't imagine that her child would be very big either.

"Why have you come to ask me, out of all people?" he asked as he looked into her eyes, furrowing his brow. Samara smiled crookedly as she looked at him and turned a light shade of pink.

"Well, you're my favorite Professor and I know that you are fond of Defense Against the Dark Arts," she replied sheepishly, looking around uncomfortably. Severus was slightly taken aback by this. There were a million other Professor that she got along with that he could have sworn would have been ranked higher then him in her regards. He was the absolute last person he expected her to say was her favorite Professor. "Besides, you are my head of house and you know my…secret."

"I see," Severus said tersely, though his heart was fluttering rapidly in his chest and there were butterflies in his stomach. Actually, considering who he was it was probably more accurate to say that there were moths in his stomach or bats, but he had to push the silly thoughts away. He wondered what the hell was wrong with him and he narrowed his eyes on Samara. She had to have some type of magical hold over him. "I suppose I can spare some of my valuable time to tutor you."

Samara beamed as she looked up at him. "Really… thank you so much Professor Snape," she said, her eyes brightening. Severus felt his heart thump harder as he saw her brighten up considerably. She'd looked particularly miserable for the past several days.

"You're absolutely shameless Miss Green," Severus said, shaking his head in amusement as he looked down at his desk.

"What do you mean?" Samara asked, her voice turning a little hard. He was sure that he was quite close to making her flare up in anger at him. He wondered if she was overly moody because of her pregnancy. He guessed that she was still trying to get used to the hormonal changes. Although, she'd always been one to spark up if you pushed the right buttons or, lit the right fuse.

"Telling me I'm your favorite Professor to get me to tutor you," he said shaking his head and looking up at her. "_Tut, tut, tut_," he said wagging a finger before her. Samara merely smiled as she looked up at him, fluttering her beautifully long, thick and sooty lashes, which looked marvelously against her creamy skin.

"The ends always justify the means, I though you of all people would understand, you are after all the Head of Slytherin," she said softly. Severus felt his breath get caught in his throat and had to gulp a lump in his throat, cough and clear his throat suddenly at the way that she was looking at him. "Are you all right?" she asked, her expression changing from vixen to worry quickly.

"Yes, I'm fine," he said as he looked down at his papers.

"I was just kidding Professor Snape; you really are my favorite Professor. You have a rare passion for what you teach that no one else does and you don't treat me like a child, but an equal," she said gently, causing him to look up at her with a furrowed brow. Perhaps he didn't have Miss Samara Green as well figured out as he'd originally thought. "Anyway, I should probably get going."

"Yes," Severus said.

"Thank you so much Professor Snape," she said as she looked at him. Severus merely nodded as she turned away and walked out of the dungeon, closing the door behind herself. Severus fell into his chair and stared at the classroom door. He felt as though he was getting way in over his head here.

**TBC…**

**A/N: **All right well that's my chappy for today! Hoped you all liked it, please leave a review!


	14. Pregnant Student I'd Like To

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 14: Pregnant Student I'd Like To…**_

The remainder of November, what was left of it anyway, slipped by without incident; Severus started to tutor Samara in Defense Against the Dark Arts. It was something that he hadn't expected to find so enjoyable, considering how fond he was of her. He thought that every second of the time they spent together he would spend agonizing over her and watching himself around her.

However, it was made surprisingly easy as Samara was buckling down and all they ever talked about in those sessions was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Giving her instructions was surprisingly easy as well. He found that he did not have to dumb things down for her, as she had a vast vocabulary, though she did not seem to use it and knew very many things. Though there were times that she had particular difficulty with a spell or counter curse, but she was always determined and never gave up. he also noted that she had very fast reflexes and good aim.

In their time alone in his private study together, there were many things that he noticed about her that perhaps were not as easy to notice when he could be watched by an entire class full of students. When she was particularly concentrated, there was a hard look in her eyes, full of determination and her brows knit together. She would purse her lips together and if she felt frustration she would glare at whatever she was doing.

He observed her, finding every expression that lit across that beautiful face enchanting. What he particularly enjoyed was when she managed to complete something successfully after struggling with it. She would turn around, her eyes sparkling and her brows easing, almost shooting up to hairline as a large smile spread over her face. She would turn to him and squeal, "I did it," almost seeming to want to bounce up and down. At times, she wouldn't be able to contain herself and would _actually_ bounce up and down.

She was a brilliant girl, he'd always known that. He'd also always known that she was endlessly endearing and sweet. However, he wondered at how he'd never before realized how patient and determined she could be. Neither did he know that she knew so much. Not only about her classes, but about what was going on the world and many other miscellaneous things that Severus was unsure people knew of.

There were times when she would come into their study sessions, which were about twice a week from seven to curfew, and she would look very tired and he would feel great pity for her. Yet, she never complained and went straight to work. She had strength in her that Severus had never seen before and a fire in her eyes that he'd forgotten about.

He was astounded that despite her depression and all the stress, that she could manage to get up early every morning to head to her classes. He couldn't believe that someone could put up with everything she felt emotionally, pay attention in all her classes, get her schoolwork done and still head to extra tutoring lesson and do it all while smiling at the world.

Never again did he see her break down into tears. Occasionally, he would see the pain in her eyes, but she would always push it away. It seemed to him that she continuously internally reminded herself that she couldn't afford to break down. That there was something, well someone inside her that needed her to be strong. It seemed to Severus what propelled her forward and for once in his life, he found that he felt great admiration for someone, and the only person he'd ever felt admiration for before was Professor Dumbledore.

Samara, the thin, tiny nearly seventeen-year-old that he had always seen as a weak and happy child was stronger than he could think anyone was capable of. It made Severus wonder and want to know everything about her. All he really knew about Samara was that she was a half-blood, whose parents had placed her in gymnastics programs, but he wondered how she had been instilled with such a fighting spirit.

Of course, he was sure that he was the only one that made this observation, as it seemed that Samara kept it well hidden. She allowed, for some reason or other, most of her friends to boss her around and she allowed all her professors to treat her like she was still a child of eleven. Severus wondered if perhaps it was simply fear that if she fought back and made people respect her that she would push away the only people that she had in her life.

There was only ever one occasion in which he remembered that Samara had seemed to boil over that the magma that smoldered beneath her serene and calm exterior seemed to become lava running over her, taking control of her. As he watched Samara collapse onto the couch in exhaustion at the spell he was having her perform, he wondered why she had been fighting with that Griffindor those several years ago. That was the only time he'd ever seen Samara fighting against anyone in the five years that he'd been her Professor now.

"Are we going to continue tutoring over the break Professor Snape?" Severus looked over at Samara as she sat on the leather couch across from the fireplace in the study. He merely shook his head as he looked at her.

"I need a break," he said, though really he'd wanted to tell her that she was the one who deserved the break. However, he couldn't bring himself to say something like that, even to her. Samara merely nodded as she looked up into his eyes. "Why aren't you going home Miss Green?" he asked as he looked at her, he knew that she'd signed up as one of the students that was staying at Hogwarts for the break. He seemed to remember that she would usually go home.

"My mother won't take too kindly to this," she said as she pointed to her stomach. Severus nodded, noticing that she had said my mother and not my parents.

"But it's hardly noticeable," Severus said, sitting down on the coffee table. Samara raised a brow.

"You think so?" Samara asked, tilting her head. She undid her robes and Severus noticed that beneath she was wearing a pair of lose fitting joggers and a large white t-shirt. He stared at her stomach, which he was supposed was what she was supposed to be showing him, however he saw nothing. Well, nothing other than her breast, which had grown considerably larger since she'd become pregnant.

It wasn't something he willingly looked at, EVER; however, they were hard to miss. Her breast used to be small you could hardly see the mounds beneath her robes; however, now they were impossible to miss. And he'd noticed, with disgust and anger that all the boys seemed to stare at her with drool slipping over their mouths. He thought it very disrespectful.

"I don't see anything," he said. Samara raised her shirt a little so that she was revealing her stomach to him. The first thing he noticed was the fact that her stomach was the size of perhaps a pineapple or melon. Second, he noticed that her skin was far paler on her stomach and looked much softer and delicate. Lastly he noticed that she had a cute little bellybutton and a pink line that seemed to trail from her belly button to her… well he didn't exactly know where as it disappeared beneath the line of her joggers and he didn't want to think about what it led to. "Ah… Robes are a very good cover," he said as she put her shirt back down, hit mouth having gone dry.

It was then that he noted that he left out a breath. He hadn't even realized that he'd been holding it. He couldn't believe that he still felt attracted to her, even though she was pregnant. He groaned inwardly to think what that indicated. "Yeah, I've never been this big before, it's kinda funny," Samara said, shrugging her still thin shoulders as she smiled up at him.

"You are supposed to gain weight," he said sternly, narrowing his gaze on her. She laughed for a brief moment.

"You looked like Madam Pomfrey, she's mad because I've only gained about thirteen pounds," she said after a moment. She then blinked several times as a slightly confused look came over her face and her eyes became unfocused. She turned look down at her stomach and stared at it for a moment, before realization hit her. "Professor Snape, come here," she said loudly.

Severus rushed over thinking something was wrong. "What is it?" he asked as he looked at her, sitting opposite of her on the coffee table in front the couch. Before he could react she had reached out for his hand and was placing it, palm down, over her stomach. For a moment he thought of snatching it away, but feeling the shock that he felt go through him and the warmth of her stomach beneath him, he found himself paralyzed.

"It's moving," she said excitedly, though Severus couldn't help notice that every time she referred to the pregnancy or the child that she called it and 'it' or other alike terms. Madam Pomfrey had mentioned to him that she thought Samara was a bit detached from the child, because of the way she referred to the unborn child and the fact that she hadn't wanted to know what gender it was. She said that she suspected that Samara might become more attached when she felt her baby move for the first time.

Severus didn't actually feel anything, except for of course his warm blood running through him, the way his heart was beating so hard, his shallow breathing, the softness and warmth of her flesh, her soft fingers holding onto the back of his hands and the fear that had paralyzed him. He wondered, just how many times in the remainder of Samara's time at Hogwarts he would _have _to touch her. Well actually, it was never like he did it willingly, she always forced him to. It wasn't something he was pleased about.

He blamed her for it. Like always, he blamed her for all of it. For being so damn beautiful and charming; He also blamed her for making him touch her and for flashing her stomach at him. He was already dreaming about her every night without end, now he could only imagine what his dreams were going to turn into. He really hoped that he would not dream of a pregnant Samara, not because it was truly unattractive, because he was sure he'd want Samara no matter what... it was just that she was his student and all his dreams of her had been relatively innocent.

He wondered if he should just take a dreamless sleep potion to completely even eliminate the possibility that he might dream of her. He mentally rolled his eyes, wondering how Samara managed to make things hard… not _in that sense!_ Make things hard without meaning to. "I see… do you mind returning my hand now?" he asked. She merely sighed as she let go of his hand and he took it back.

What was that anyway? He wanted his pregnant student, was there to something wrong with him that he wanted to fu… no. That wasn't the right word. If he had to be completely honest with himself, he'd had one dream of Samara that was not entirely innocent and what he did to her was not just sex. It was tender, slow and gentle… he shivered at what people would call that. _Making love,_ once more he internally shivered in revulsion. He couldn't possibly be capable of such gentleness.

"Well I suppose I should head to Slytherin, good night Professor Snape," Samara said as she stood up, fixing her robes as she headed towards the door. "I'll see you around the castle," she said as she reached the door and gave him a smile. Severus nodded curtly, keeping the neutral mask on his face before moving from were he was sitting to sit on the couch.

He would definitely need that Dreamless Sleep Potion.

**TBC…**

**A/n:** Hope you all liked the chapter. I'll post some more soon. Please Review!


	15. PILF

**Warning: **There is one curse word in this chapter. Sorry, it was unavoidable.

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 15: PILF**_

"Finally Professor Snape has given you a break from all that studying," Severus looked down the table and glared at Jessica Harbor. She and Samara were the only two people from that specific group of Slytherins that were staying at the castle for break. In fact, there weren't very many people at the castle that Professor Dumbledore thought that it was silly to have four long tables and therefore now there was only one.

All in all, there were twenty people sitting at the table, including the Professors. Samara and Jessica weren't sitting very far away from where he was, but he could still hear them. Well he could hear Jessica anyway; she was talking loud enough so that her voice carried over to him. Samara, well to hear what she was saying he had to strain an ear.

"He was tutoring me because I asked him to Jess," Samara said softly.

"I still think he's a total PILF," Jessica said, causing Samara to turn bright pink, but she didn't say anything, merely ducked her head down to what she was eating. Severus pretended he didn't hear what they were talking about and scowled, wondering to himself, what the hell is a PILF?

"That's not appropriate Jess," Samara said.

"Precisely," Jess said, waggling her brows. Samara ducked down her head even lower. Jess, was half turned, facing Samara so that her back was mainly to Severus. He wondered at how she did not feel him glaring at the back of her head. Was she insulting him?

"Cracker," Severus looked over at the Dumbledore and shook his head, before turning his attention back to his food and straining to hear the Slytherin sixth years talking not too far away.

"Stop being a prude, I know that you've thought about it too!" Jessica said.

"Have not," Samara replied.

"I share a dorm with you, I hear you in your sleep," Jessica said.

"Hear what?" Samara asked, turning to her friend looking confused and a little horrified.

"You moan his name," Jessica said. Severus turned his gaze away from his plate and looked nonchalantly at the other end of the table, though leaning back a little so that he could hear better. "What do you dream about our dear Head of House?"

"Nothing."

"Stop lying Gumby! Just tell me your hot dreams of Professor Snape, and I'll stop torturing you," Jessica Harbor said. Samara merely stood and exited the Great Hall, covering her face and shame with her hair as she rushed by. Severus pretended not to notice as he continued to eat.

---

He didn't see Samara for several days afterwards, which he found to be a great relief, despite the fact that his heart ached to see her. However, he could get the snippet of conversation that he'd heard out of his mind. So Samara was dreaming about him and moaning his name? What did that mean? There were only a handful of reasons she could be the cause of moaning and the most prominent reason seemed most unlikely.

He couldn't imagine that Samara would want him, not like that. And what was more annoying was that the one word that seemed to possibly hold the answers he could not find. PILF, what was that? He'd looked it up in several dictionaries, thesauruses, glossaries, encyclopedias and yet he couldn't find it anywhere.

Groaning inwardly, he sat down in one of the many mismatched chairs in the teachers lounge to grade papers. Tutoring Samara was setting him back slightly when it came to his grading. He'd been planning to use his two week break to get all his grading over with. "What are students coming to now a days anyway?" he heard Rolanda Hooch saying to Minerva McGonagall. They were both sitting in another pair of armchairs sipping tea. "You won't believe what a student said about Dumbledore the other day, they distinctly used the word PILF if I recall."

"PILF Rolanda? What is that, I don't believe I've heard the word before," Aurora Sinistra asked. She was sitting at the table with Severus, pouring over star charts as she looked over at her colleagues. Severus too looked up in interest. There was that word again and apparent both Hooch and McGonagall were familiar with the term.

"You haven't heard your students using it yet, Aurora?" McGonagall asked. "It's like a new fad all over the school, all the students seem to be using it and it's not just PILF either, there is GILF, RILF, SILF, HILF, EILF… it's ridiculous! They are acronyms, the last three letters all stand for the same thing. The first are Professor, Griffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and even ELF!"

"What does –ILF stand for?" Aurora asked, leaning back in her chair. Rolanda smiled.

"Well let's take the word PILF. Professor I'd Like To Fuck," Rolanda Hooch said, smiling, her hawk-eyes glistening. Severus almost choked on his own breathing at this. All three female teachers looked over at him.

"Are you all right Severus?" Aurora asked as she was closest to him.

"Yes," he said tersely. "I think I'm getting sick," he said standing up and suddenly needing to retire. He picked up his things and exited the room very hurriedly, quickly muttering a very low 'excuse me'. As he sped down the hallway, he wondered just how many students and WHY they considered him a… PILF?

He stopped dead in the middle of the hall, his stomach clenching and his heart stopping. Did Samara? He shook his head at this, she couldn't. After all she'd stated that it was inappropriate and she could have been moaning about something else. Just because her friend Jessica Harbor was a horny, strange teen didn't mean that Samara thought the same as her friend.

_Then again, you know it's inappropriate, but that doesn't stop your dreams_, an unpleasant voice in his head reminded him. Yes, even Professor Snape had that chastising voice that other people had in their heads, which seemed to want to contradict them at every turn. Severus balled his hands into first as he made his way down the hall. NO, Samara simply couldn't think of him that way. Pregnant or not, she was beautiful and could have anyone she wanted. Why would she want him?

**TBC…**

**A/N:** Well, I hope that everyone liked the chapter. I hope to update soon! Please Review!


	16. Stories Worth Retelling

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 16: Stories Worth Retelling**_

Severus straightened up and sniffled as he held his chest after nearly coughing up a lung. It seemed he had jinxed himself several days earlier in the teacher's lounge when he said he was getting sick to get away. Now, he really was sick. He couldn't breath through his nose, he had a miserable headache and he couldn't stop coughing. It wasn't just any kind of coughing either, it was the kind of coughing that was dry, though he felt phlegm jiggling in his throat, all rather disgusting and leaving a bad taste in his mouth.

Finally deciding that enough was enough; he stood up from his grading and made his way over to the cabinets in his private study. He was sure that he had something in there for a cold, though he was a little doubtful as he couldn't remember the last time he had come down with a cold. He was quite sure that he hadn't been very much older then six at the time. He wondered at all how he had caught a cold in the first place.

He grimaced when he found that he did have something, but that something would make him feel fuzzy and drowsy. Suddenly he went into another phlegmy coughing fit that lasted five minutes. Straightening up after wards and screwing up his face he reached out for the cough serum, it would at least make the headache, the coughing and stuffy nose go away.

The taste, like of course all potions was rather disgusting and he had to wash his mouth afterwards, but he did quickly begin to feel like he could breath fresh air again. The phlegm had all disappeared and when he breathed in, he no longer felt the need to double over, coughing like he'd just sucked invisible little pixies that were tickling his lungs and everything along the way to them.

Severus immediately started to straighten up his things and looked at his watch. It was about seven-thirty. It felt a little too early to call it a night, but the potion was starting to fuzz up his mind and he was sure that he could get any more grading done tonight. Besides, as he stifled a yawn, he didn't see a point to staying up. Perhaps he would just curl up in bed and read a book until he fell asleep.

However, as he straightened his things he heard a light knocking on his door. Severus furrowed a brow and wondered who it could possibly be. There weren't very many people that knew the location of his private study, except perhaps a couple of teachers. In very quick strides, he crossed the expanse of his study and opened the door.

He was slightly jolted to see Samara Green standing at the door. She was wearing emerald green robes and was biting down on her lips as she looked around the hall, holding her hands behind her back. "Miss Green, what are you doing here?" he asked, trying to recover his neutral mask and happy that she had been looking around when he opened the door. It meant that she hadn't caught the look of surprise on his face.

Samara turned around and looked up into the eyes of her head of house. Severus was a full head taller than her and he assumed that Samara wasn't going to get any taller. It was something he was happy about as this meant that she had to look up at him and that he could look down at her.

She furrowed her brows as a look of concern came over her face. "I hope you don't mind me saying so, but you look awful Professor Snape," Samara said looking sheepishly at his face. He looked very pale and there were very dark bags beneath his eyes. His eyes looked slightly pink and the edges of his nostrils did as well.

Severus glared down at the girl. "I've been sick with a cold," he said coldly as he looked at her.

"Ah, that explains it," Samara said as she looked up into his eyes. "Tiny," she said. Severus looked at her in confusion, but a house elf suddenly appeared and looked up at Samara questioningly. "Can I please have a cup of cocoa, for Professor Snape?" she asked as she looked kindly down at the House elf. It merely nodded before disappearing with the same crack it had shown up with. Severus looked at her questioningly. "It'll make you feel better," she smiled up at him.

Severus sighed as he opened the door and walked away. Samara took this as invitation enough to walk into the room. She walked in and closed the study door behind herself with her foot as she watched her Professor plop down on the couch. She neared him. "You haven't told me why you came here," he said pointedly as he looked over at her as she sat on the other end of the couch.

"Well I haven't seen you around the castle all day and since it's Christmas Eve I wanted to give you your present," Samara said as she brought her arms out from behind her back and handed him a nicely wrapped parcel. Severus took the gift reluctantly in his hands, furrowing his brow as he stared at it. The color was bright silver and wrapped with a green ribbon in a pretty bow. There was a card tucked beneath the ribbon.

"You got me a present?" Severus asked, looking up at her. Samara smiled brightly at him.

"Well I wanted to thank you for everything you've done for me, but don't even think of opening it before Christmas, I've placed a charm on it so you won't cheat," she said with a bright smile, though she narrowed her eyes at him.

Severus nodded, though he was still confused that she'd gotten him a gift as he placed in on the coffee table. However, before he could say anything about it, especially how she shouldn't have gotten him anything at all, the house elf appeared once more and held out a cup to him. He took it without saying a word as the elf turned to look at Samara.

"Anything I can get you miss?" the elf asked.

"Actually, yes, I have a terrible craving for a Pomegranate," she said as she looked at the elf. The Elf merely nodded before disappearing with another crack. She looked over at her Professor who was staring at her with a raised brow as he held the cup of cocoa in his hands, Samara smiled at him. "It's my favorite fruit."

"I've never tried one. Why is a house elf responding to your every beck and call?" Severus asked.

"Oh… Madam Pomfrey assigned her to me so that my cravings are satisfied," she replied. She then laughed nervously as she lowly mumbled something he didn't quite catch. Though he was sure he heard something like _other cravings_. When he tried to ask her to repeat herself the house elf reappeared with the Pomegranate that was already cut in half so that she could eat it. "Would you like to try it?" Samara asked after thanking the honey eyed elf before she disappeared. Severus could never tell the gender of those things.

Severus warily glanced at the fruit she was offering him. He'd seen pomegranates before, only once. There were millions of ruby red, juicy seeds in it and he supposed that was what was supposed to be eaten. "No, thank you," he said, adding the thank you as a bit of an after thought. She once more narrowed her eyes at him.

"Are you scared Professor?" she asked as she looked at him. Severus glared at her, but took the half that she was offering him. Gingerly, he plucked at the seeds as he watched her do the same. She had turned her full attention to the fruit and was happily plucking seeds and bringing them to her mouth. Severus merely followed suit. He was surprised to find that he actually liked their taste.

He furrowed his brow at the smell, though. It smelled familiar. He looked over at Samara as he placed the fruit down and suddenly remembered why the fruit smelled familiar. It was what Samara smelled like. The time that he'd picked her up, her smell was of Pomegranates, it was the fruity smell he couldn't place. He guessed that she ate the fruit more often than other people.

"Do you like the fruit?" Samara asked. Severus looked over at her and nodded. She smiled. "I love it; don't understand how Persephone ever only ate six seeds. So how has your break been Professor?" Samara asked conversationally as she looked up from her fruit, but continued to bring seed after seed to her mouth.

"I've been grading," he said dryly.

"Sounds as exciting as mine," she joked, sarcastically. Severus turned to her with a raised brow. "I've been doing nothing but all the work assigned for the holidays, I decided it was best to get it over with to be able to enjoy the rest of my holidays," she replied. Severus merely nodded, thinking about how he stopped seeing her around the castle. "You look very sleepy," Samara said as she noticed him blink slowly.

"I took a potion for my cold, I suppose it's making me drowsy," he said, placing the fruit on the coffee table and leaning his body back against the couch. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He guessed that he must really look tired if she took notice. He then recalled something she'd said earlier that threw him off a bit. "You said something about Persephone, what was that?"

Samara stared at her Professor blankly for a moment, however, soon remembered what she said. "Oh… there was a Greek Myth about Persephone and Hades and she ate six seeds which caused her to stay for six months at a time in the underworld for all eternity," Samara said, summing it up rather quickly.

"Ah yes, the abduction story," he said, only vaguely remembering the Greek myth as he leaned his head back. He was having trouble staying awake now.

"I think that they loved each other, I retell it in my own way," Samara said as she watched her Professor. Even in his tiredness and under the influence of a potion he still managed to retain that cold, neutral mask on his face. She smiled as she watched him arch a brow over his closed eyes. It was very _Snape_ of him.

"Do tell," he said softly, without opening his eyes. He was only vaguely aware of the story she started to tell him and her voice reaching his consciousness, as a fog took over his brain and he found himself slipping off into sleep that he could no longer fight off. He found himself slipping into a very strange dream.

_Severus strode through the very large hall as if he owned the place. A circular space, lined with columns all around had several thrones around the room, three very large ones standing out. He made his way slowly to the large ebony throne that was seldom occupied as he told his blond brother his dilemma, how he'd fallen in love with the other man's daughter, how he blamed Aphrodite for it and threatened that it was in their best interest that she'd make amends for it._

_Together, the two estranged brothers concocted a plan, and a beautiful flower was created for dear Samara, the beautiful girl who had captured the heart of the Lord of the Underworld. And so the child was to fall in love with the Dark Lord and follow him into the underworld and become his bride, but something went terribly wrong with a seemingly perfect plan. _

_Not thinking of how to amend it and not wishing to lose the beautiful goddess, Severus did the only thing that he could think of and picked the dainty thin figure of the beautiful woman who had captured his heart and in the chariot plunged with her into the Underworld. Swallowing her up and making her disappear._

_In the Darkness of the underworld, even the beautiful goddess could not lighten it with her beauty, as that dark void engulfed her. She missed the sun, the air, the birds, the creatures and the only parent she ever had, because her father was rarely around. For days and nights, Severus gave everything to the girl that she could possibly want or need, but nothing would lift her spirits. _

_She simply lay, lost beneath the covers of a large bed, shivering and in tears, tearing at his heart cruelly. However, one day, Hecate, a long companion of the Dark Lord could not longer take it and showed to the girl everything the Dark Lord had ever done for her. How he had protected her from lascivious men who would harm the young goddess, how he sent Hypnos to her every night to give her pleasant dreams, and how he had a flower created just for her. _

_The goddess took all these things into consideration and that night, when the Dark Lord entered the bedchamber she lay in to make sure she was safely asleep, she awaited him in the darkness. When he was about to turn around and walk away, she called softly to his name and sat up, motioning for him to come closer. When he looked into her eyes, he could see a visible change in them._

_And time grew frienship to love, a love that before he even realized was there was threatened when the world started dying. The overbearing mother seeking out her child and letting her duties fall away, allowing the earth to die until she found her daughter. It was all too good to be true. He'd never be able to keep the sunshine of the world locked up and hidden. He could not be selfish and take it away._

_He resolved that the goddess must return to her mother, despite how it hurt his heart to do it. However, she was in love and would not be taken away from the man who had loved her so, the only man to have ever only had her best interest at heart and on the day that she Hermes come for her, she ate six pomegranate seeds from the food of the dead, and would have eaten more to spend all eternity with him, but was caught. _

_But six months out of a year, she brought the light of the world into the underworld and into the heart of the Dark Lord, where it was lodged for all eternity._

Severus remained sleeping, but was vaguely aware of something pleasant running through his hair. With his eyes closed, he felt drowsiness slowly slipping away, but he did not wish to wake up. He was thoroughly enjoying his dream and the feel of something soft in his hair, something that made him lose his senses. He could hardly remember anything before he'd fallen asleep and he wondered where he was.

Perhaps he had fallen asleep on the couch? He wondered as he found himself lying on his side, his head resting on a soft pillow. However, something was starting to arise in the back of his mind and pester his dreams and his peaceful sleep. Something he was trying to remember. If he was asleep on his couch, had he dreamed that someone knocked on the door? He then remembered opening the door and Samara walking into the room. Had she left?

Severus opened his eyes at this thought, wondering where the hell he was. He looked up and saw that Samara was looking around the room, her fingers were absent-mindedly running through his head and was what was making him lose his sense. He then realized that he had indeed laid down on the couch and that his head was resting in Samara's lap. WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?

Severus sat up immediately and looked at Samara with a furrowed brow. "AH, you're awake," she said brightly and innocently, like it wasn't at all unusual to have one's professor sleep on them and to run their fingers through their hair. Severus looked at the girl questioningly. "You fell asleep while I was telling you the story, I thought you were very tired and I felt bad. So I laid you down and let you rest," she said with a shrug.

Samara then stretched and yawned. "How long have I been out for?" Severus asked when he found his voice. He was surprised that it came out as calm and controlled as he meant it to.

"About an hour," she said as she got up and stretched. She looked very tired. "I suppose I should get back to Slytherin now, curfew is in half an hour," she said as she yawned once more. Severus looked at her warily. She looked very tired and like she might just fall asleep along the way.

"I should check up on Slytherin to make sure no one is up," Severus said standing up, not letting on that really he just wanted to make sure that she made it back to her dorm safely. Samara merely nodded and together they walked out of the room. As they made their way silently down the hallway, he found that her footsteps were still lighter and more silent than his, which was simply amazing. He also noted that despite the fact that she was nearly five months pregnant, she could keep up with his long strides.

However, before they had moved very far down the hallways, Samara came to a stop and walked towards a nearby window. Severus furrowed his brow and followed her as she looked out the window, pressing her fingertips to the pane. He came to stand next to her and looked down into her pale face, which glowed beneath the light of the full moon and made her eyes sparkle. A smile had spread across her face, making her look blissful.

"It's snowing," she whispered softly. Severus looked out the window and could see that it was in fact snowing rather heavily, large puffs of cottony snow flakes. Thus far they had a completely dry winter, which was unusual. It was quite something for it to be snowing on Christmas Eve.

"I see that, come we should…" Severus stopped talking as he tried to step away but found that his feet were glued to the spot and made him sway precariously. He furrowed his brow and looked down at his feet as he tried to walk away once more.

Samara turned to her Head of house as he cut himself off. She stared at him and wondered why he was staring at his feet with such concern. She turned around to face him. "Are you all right?" she asked when she'd turned and found herself less than a foot away from him. She hadn't meant to take the baby-step towards him, but she didn't think anything of it as she looked up at him.

"Are you doing this?" he asked, turning to her and looking at her accusingly. A look of confusion lit her face as she looked at him.

"Do what?" she asked. He looked down at his feet and tried to move away, but found that his feet would not come off the ground.

"I'm stuck," Severus said. Samara furrowed her brow and tried to move, but found that she could no longer move away from him. Slowly and fearfully, she turned her head to look up at the ceiling as she remembered the first couple of days of December when she had seen Professor Flitwick decorating the halls and charming certain plants.

"Umm… Professor Snape," Samara said as her eyes became glued to the plant hanging over them and her cheeks became pink. Severus looked up to look at Samara; however, she wasn't looking at him. Slowly, he followed her gaze overhead and felt all the blood drain from his face. Not only his face, actually, from his brain as well as he suddenly felt light headed. "I think… Professor Flitwick charmed them… so that… well… so that a person … well people… trapped beneath can't move away until …well… it is mistletoe."

Severus looked down at the stuttering Samara. Never before had he seen her look so miserably embarrassed and never before had she stuttered. As she caught his eyes, she blushed furiously and turned away. "Do you mean we can't move until…" Severus trailed off, his mouth having gone horribly dry. Samara giggled nervously as she looked down at her feet.

"I'm afraid so," she mumbled softly.

"No there has to be another way," Severus said, shaking his head. Samara looked up, her eyes dulling and a strange look coming into her eyes… pain?

"I suppose you can try, but when it comes to Charms Professor Flitwick knows what he's doing and you'll just be waisting your time," she said. Severus merely ignored this and started trying any spell that he could think of to free him. Fifteen minutes later, he was still rooted to the spot, however, now facing an offended looking Samara Green who'd crossed her arms over her chest.

"Perhaps Professor Flitwick can release us," Severus suggested, still pale and his heart thumping in his chest.

"I'm not waiting here until he just happens to come by us," she said angrily, her anger at last flaring up. "Suck it up Professor Snape, is it really so horrible to kiss a pregnant girl?" she said loudly as she glared up at him. However, she gave him no room to respond before wrapping her arms around his neck and bringing his head down so that she could plant and chaste kiss on his lips.

Severus felt his breathing increase three fold as he felt her small arms around him and her soft lips pressing gently against him, despite her anger she hadn't crushed her lips with hers. Though, she had tugged on him quite roughly. Her lips were so soft and made him light headed, while his heart's rhythm became fast and erratic.

However, the kiss was rather quick and she pulled away after a few seconds. Her face flushed, but anger still aflame in her eyes as she turned around and strode quickly away, leaving a confused professor in her wake. Severus reached up his hand to his lips as he watched her disappear down the hall. He didn't, however, dare touch his lips as they still tingled with the sensation her lips had left on his and burned for her.

**TBC…**

**A/n: **Please Review, hope you liked the chapter!


	17. Stories Not Woth Telling

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 17: Stories Not Worth Telling**_

Severus woke the following morning and scowled as he realized what time it was. He rose from the bed and took a quick and freezing shower. He had trouble falling asleep the previous night and he'd tossed and turned all night because of the damned kiss that Samara had been forced to plant on him. Why was she so angry with him? He couldn't stop thinking about that. It distracted him so much he could hardly feel the cold water pricking at his skin.

Once out of the shower, he continued to grimace as he dressed in his usual plain black robes and headed out of his room. He needed something to do until breakfast and he needed something to take his mind off Samara. She plagued him enough as it was, now it was beyond impossible to stop thinking about her.

He looked around his private quarters and wondered where the hell the papers he'd been grading were. He sighed as he'd remembered that he'd been grading in his private study and hadn't finished picking them up when Samara stopped by. He sighed as he marched out of the room and down the empty hallways of Hogwarts. No one in their right mind would be out at five in the morning.

Then again, he was certainly not in his right state of mind. He was going insane with the thoughts of Samara. He was unhappy to think about how deeply she had rooted herself in his being. He furrowed his brows deeply as he realized how very little he had thought of Lily for the past several years when the first time he'd heard about her death he'd been devastated and thought he'd never move on.

What was it about Samara that could make him forget everything? Was it a simple obsession? He shook his head at this. Sure his constant thinking about her indicated an obsession, but he didn't stalk her or want to be in her presence. Well he did, but a greater part of him wanted to resist her completely and stay away from her.

If he had to be completely honest he had to say that something about her scared the hell out of him. Actually, it was not her but how he found that he was feeling for her. It was like Lily all over again, except this time it seemed to be getting stronger and he was afraid that what he was feeling for her would turn into unbearable pain.

He'd loved Lily, and that had all come to a very bad end. The pain was crippling and life-altering. What he was feeling for Samara, it was getting stronger than anything he'd ever felt for Lily and he was scared about what that meant. He'd hardly been able to survive the last time, how would he survive this if what he felt for Samara was stronger?

No, he decided that it was for the best that he try and distance himself from her. Though he didn't know how he'd be able to when he felt such a compelling need to protect her. It wasn't possible to distance himself from her and at the same time try to protect her. Staying away from her would certainly protect him, but it would leave her open to any further injury and he didn't want anything to ever happen to her again. The answer suddenly seemed so simple.

There was nothing he could do, at this point what he felt for her was already strong enough for him to know that protecting her was the only thing that mattered. Severus marched into his study, feeling his heart sinking with pain as he grimaced, closing the door behind himself. He was practically signing his own execution. _No, _he _was_ signing his own execution. However, as he fell on the couch and caught sight of the present that was sitting on his desk, he realized how his life didn't matter, so long as she was safe.

Steadily he reached out for the gift and pulled out the card from beneath the green ribbon, twirling it in his fingers to see if she'd written anything on the envelope. However, it didn't take him long to notice that she'd left it devoid of anything, he supposed as it was because she was planning to hand it personally to him and saw no point in telling him who it was from. He merely shrugged inwardly and pulled the card out. He paid little mind to the card itself and focused all his attention in what she'd written to him.

_Dear Professor Snape,_

_I just wanted to thank you for everything you have done for me and for keeping my secret. I really did mean that you were my favorite professor and that I really do admire and respect you. _

_You don't smile and I hope that this will remedy that, in the least a little. I mean you smirk and occasionally your mouth twitches like you are going to smile, but you never do. I only hope that this can bring a smile to your face. You know, it takes approximately fifty muscles to frown and only thirteen to smile?_

_Sincerely,  
Samara Green_

_P.S. Merry Christmas!_

Severus felt a smile tug at the side of his face as a corner of his mouth tilted up and revealed a crooked, half-smile. Leave it to Samara to include a random fact in a Christmas card and forget to say Merry Christmas until the post script. He placed the small card in his robe pocket, next to his wand and looked at the box, propped on his knees. It was very nicely wrapped that he thought it would be a shame to rip it open.

He reached out for the green ribbon and painfully slowly pulled it, undoing the pretty bow she had left. Slowly he pulled apart the two ends and picked it up. It was one single, thick ribbon that was made of silk and was emerald green; he tucked that into his pocket as well. He wondered for a moment if she'd made the bow manually.

He slowly unwrapped the wrapping, making sure not to rip the paper and stared down at the box, which he slowly opened and stared at the inside of the box. A smile spread across his face as he stared at the gift that she had given him and shook his head at the silliness of it. It was an old and tattered book of fairy-tales.

Severus took the book out of the box and placed and the box and wrapping paper on the table. It was a book he assumed the size of the Potions Textbook he assigned to his seventh years, which was quite large. He wondered at why this book was so light, but he could feel the magic surrounding the book and guessed that was what made it so light. He stared at the book a moment and then looked at the box it came in, and compared it's dimensions to those of the box. The book was larger then the box was.

He guessed that she'd performed a contraction charm on the book so that he wouldn't know what she was giving him. Apparently she'd wanted it to be a complete and utter surprise to him. Once more he smiled while shaking his head and looked down at the book that he was holding and opened the leather bound, brown and peeling cover and stared at the inside cover where she'd written a small note.

_I can't imagine you've read fairy-tales, but when I was growing up and couldn't sleep at night because I was feeling blue, this always made me feel better. My mother gave it to me as a child, she charmed it. Turn to page 125, that's my favorite._

Severus delicately turned to page 125 and saw the black text; however, before he could read it he saw figures emerging from the page of the book, along with scenery. It was like watching a memory come up from a pensive, but this was slightly more solid and in color. He guessed that this was like what muggles would call a popup book, but much better as one could see the whole story and hear the narrator as if one was watching a muggle film.

However, before he knew what he was watching, he had to stand up and head to the door, as he'd heard someone knocking. He closed the book as he sat up and wondered who could be knocking on his door so very early in the morning. For a moment, he merely sat there, wondering if he'd simply imagined the whole thing. However, when he heard the second, soft knock on his door he stood up and in a few quick strides he was on the other side of the room opening the door.

For the second time in less than twenty-four hours, he was surprised to see Samara Green standing at his door. However, he was more surprised this time than the first as she was staring down at her feet sheepishly. Hadn't she been furious with him when she stalked off the previous night?

Samara looked up and stared at her Professor and smiled at him weakly, her cheeks turning slightly pink. "I couldn't sleep," was the first thing that slipped out of her mouth as she stared at him. "I just wanted to apologize for last night… for getting angry and yelling at you. I suppose I'm still getting used to all the hormonal changes and still having mood swings," Samara said weakly as she stared into his eyes. The truth was, she didn't want to admit that she was upset that he didn't want to kiss her and wanted to use anything as an excuse to cover it up.

"I see," he simply said, not knowing what he really could say in a moment like this. "Perhaps you shouldn't have given me your fairytale book if you couldn't sleep," he said as he looked down at her, to fill the awkward silence with anything. He didn't trust himself to not blush at the memory of last night and he had to divert attention away from that.

A bright smile lit up her face as she looked at him. "Did you like it?" she asked as she stared at him.

"It was unique," he said simply after a moment, never going to admit that he loved the present because it was from her. She smiled at him and shrugged as she looked at him.

"I don't think I need it anymore. I looked through it when I was younger to keep myself from becoming bitter and cynical about love," she said with a shrug. Severus turned to her and furrowed his brow as he looked at her, wondering what that meant. Why would a child become bitter about love? Samara looked up and noticed the raised brow that her Head was staring at her with. She smiled as she looked at him. "Just because I'm sweet and friendly doesn't mean I'm naïve and I'm incapable of being furious and bitter. I just try not to."

"What would make you bitter about love when you are a child?" Snape asked, moving back and letting her walk in. He was uncomfortable speaking at the threshold of his study. Samara stepped into the room, though, she seemed hesitant. However, she walked into to room and went over and sat down on the couch. Severus walked along with her and she turned to look at him.

"It's a long story, not really worth telling. See my mum is a muggle born witch and my father was a muggle. They were young and she didn't know about contraceptive charms when my mum got pregnant with me. When she told him he took off," Samara said as she cast a glance at the fire, her face darkening a bit with anger. "My mum was so distraught about it she nearly had a miscarriage, because she was so miserable.

"The hearlers had to put her on anti-depressant potions and kept her bed-ridden until she gave birth, they thought she was a danger to herself and to me," Samara explained, staring into the fire. "I suppose when my mum finally held me that was when she first felt any strength and she said it was because her motherly instincts finally kicked in.

"She always tried to smile, but then he came back when I was five and I saw that she was never happy before he came back, not really," Samara said, her voice hardening as she glared at the fire, her brows knitting together. Severus watched her, he'd never seen her like this and he found it strange, like seeing another puzzle piece of Samara. "I don't know why he came back; I wish he would have just stayed gone.

"Four years later, I woke up and walked into the kitchen, and she was turned away washing dishes the muggle way. She wiped her eyes before turning around to look at me and I knew that she's been crying. She smiled at me, but I could see the pain in her eyes and knew that he was gone. I always smiled at her and I was always sweet, because I never wanted for her to feel like she was a bad mother and she was, she tried to protect me as best she could, she simply wasn't strong enough.

"He came back again a couple of months later and I don't know why but she took him back. She should have known that he was just going to destroy our lives again and leave. That he was just going to cause her more pain and leave. He left again when I was in my fourth year and like always I tried to hold her together.

"I finally realized that whenever they were in their room during the day and I couldn't hear anything that they were fighting and that she'd cast muffliato. I realized that when she was limping, it was because he'd raped her. I knew that when she winced in pain, or wasn't using her hands much, that he'd beat her, but she'd always tried to protect me from the knowledge of this, she was strong enough to protect me from that, but not strong enough to turn him away."

"Did he ever… hurt you?" Severus asked. Samara turned to look at him saw that he was staring at her very intently. She cracked a bitter smile.

"He tried, summer before my fourth year," Samara simply said, turning back to the fire, losing herself in the memory. "I was walking by their bedroom and he was coming out. My mom was knocked out on the bed and that was the first time I'd ever seen her like that. Her face was bruised and there was blood pouring from her mouth. I asked him what the hell he'd done to her, I was so furious.

"He got angry at me and he was going to hit me, but I flipped backwards and my foot hit him in the face and made him fall back. I went over to him and started to kick him in the stomach and yelled at him that he shouldn't dare EVER put a hand on me," Samara said, smiling bitterly at the memory.

Severus stared at her, suddenly pieces seeming to fall in to place. She hated her father, which seemed understandable, but she fought hard against her anger and hate, because she didn't want to be like him. Yet at the same time, she didn't want to be weak like her mother, and she had a hard time teetering between both personalities. He wondered if her desire to become a Healer stemmed from the desire that she had to heal her mother.

However, he shook his head of the psycho-babble-talk forming in his head and stared at Samara. She was indeed much stronger than her mother. How had she managed to retain such a cheerful disposition despite what she had lived through? And how was she not bitter about love, if she wasn't?

He wondered at all if she felt _Deja Vu_ about her situation. It was like her mother's and he wondered how she had allowed for history to repeat itself. However, he was still amazed by Samara and he inwardly grimaced as he realized, this only made him love her more.

**TBC…**

**A/N: **Well hope you all liked this chapter! Please Review!**  
**


	18. Awareness

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 18: Awareness**_

January 9. The date he was always very aware of Samara Green ever since he'd found out it was her birthday too. She didn't seem too pleased about her birthday and seemed to, like him, want it to pass by without anyone knowing about it. He had no idea why that was, but he didn't think it was for any particular reason, other than she didn't want to be made any fuss over. After all, that was the only reason he didn't like his birthday either.

Christmas Holidays had come to an end without any more incidents, to his immense relief. He occasionally had spotted Samara in the hallway, but she would merely smile at him and say hello. It was almost as though life had Hogwarts was going back to normal. Except for the small change in the fact that he was now very aware of how he felt for Samara and was being extra careful around her. He wanted to distance himself from her, and he was doing so far as best he could, considering that he was tutoring her once more and still trying to protect her.

All the students had returned to Hogwarts and with them came the start of classes once more. Severus didn't mind, he actually preferred having something to do so that he could take his mind off of Samara. However, today was Saturday, and it just so happened to also be a Hogsmead weekend. It wasn't something he was very happy about, and it gave him a lot of time to think.

In the meantime, he was walking around Hogsmead, not really paying any attention to where he was going or what any of the students around him were doing. However, he was very aware when he felt something quite hard, yet at the same time not at all solid, hit him on the shoulder. Immediately he stopped and scowled at his arm to see a lot of snow on it.

Looking up, his eyes glared at the only group of students nearby and gritted his teeth as he realized it was a certain group of seventh year Slytherins. All seven students froze as they stared at their head of house. It wasn't hard to see that they were having a snow fight and that he just happened to be walking by their battle ground and had accidentally been hit. However, it infuriated him and judging by the guilty and terrified look on Timothy Elias' face, he was the culprit.

All seven Slytherins, who were rosy cheeked due to the cold, were now staring at him with wide eyes and in anticipation to his anger. Standing closest to him was Samara and Nate Matthews, one of the two had been the target of Timothy's snow ball, however both dark haired Slytherins had probably ducked and avoided being hit.

Scattered around behind were Drake Benson and Marietta Hawthorne, but they were on the ground. Apparently they had opted for trying to throw each other onto the grown and were both lying there. Scattered to Timothy's left and right were Jessica Harbor and Ethan Christie, both who had dropped the snowballs in their gloved hands.

Severus balled his hands into fist, however, before he could say anything Samara was walking over to him. "Hey there Professor Snape, would you like to accompany me to get something from the Three Broomsticks? They're not letting any underage wizards go in today and I hate going there alone. Besides I really want to get out of the cold," she said hurriedly as she walked over to him and brushed the snow off his arm, smiling at him. Once more before he could say anything she took his arm and was leading him away, smiling over at her friends and calling out that she'd see them back at the castle.

"Timothy is still going to have detention, and they still won't let you in, you are still a Hogwarts Student," Severus said, remembering how he'd tried that as well when he was a sixth year.

"OH, drat, I was really hoping I could taste firewhiskey," Severus stopped walking and caused her to turn around.

"You can't drink alcoholic beverages in your…condition," he hissed lowly at her, looking around Hogsmead to make sure no one was standing very close to him. Samara smiled as she looked at him and rolled her hazel eyes.

"I was only kidding Professor," she smiled. "You need to lighten up," she said with a smile. Severus relaxed as he started to walk once more. He'd intended to walk away, but Samara walked along beside him, leaving her small footprints in the snow along next to him. It was a strange sight. Often times when he saw his footprints in the snow, they were alone and he was quite used to that. It was strange to see another pair, parallel to his. "How's the anniversary going?"

"Excuse me?" he asked, looking over at her. She had her hair lose today, and he assumed it was to keep her ears warm. Her hair looked slightly windblown, and gave her a wild look, but she looked gorgeous. Her lips were swollen because of the cold air and looked much darker than usual, contrasting nicely against her pale skin. Her rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes made her seem more alive then he'd seen her all year.

Samara sighed lightly and shook her head, causing something to dangle and making him realize that she was wearing earrings. A pair of dark green hoops dangled from her ears and stood out against her raven black hair, he'd never before see her wearing earrings. He hadn't even known her earlobes were pierced. The simple accessory made her look older, and he knew that had nothing to do with the fact that she had turned of age today.

"The anniversary of your birth a millennia ago to this date," she teased, smiling bewitchingly at him. Severus turned away from the witch who reached to about his chin and was walking along side him less then a foot away.

"Must you remind me that I am a fossil?" he asked curtly. Samara furrowed her brows at this, the smile on her face falling away.

"I'm sorry… I was only joking. Besides, you're not a fossil. You are only about… what… 27?" she asked as she looked up at him. Severus turned to look at her, wondering how she knew. She smiled as she realized that she was right and looked forward. "If you're a fossil than I must be senile."

Severus cracked a smile but turned away so that she wouldn't see it. "How did you guess?" he suddenly asked, turning to look at her. She merely shrugged her thin shoulders and he realized that she was only wearing a pair of emerald green robes, which were very form fitting and he wondered how her stomach looked so flat when last he'd seen it was the size of a pineapple. He guessed that she was using one of the Concealment Charms Pomfrey had shown her.

"Good guesser," she replied simply.

"Why aren't you wearing a cloak? You are going to get sick," he asked, turning to look at her. She kicked at the snow as she frowned slightly.

"I wasn't planning to come to Hogsmead today, but I was dragged by Ethan and Nate. I didn't even get a chance to grab a cloak, but we were having a snow fight and I completely forgot about how cold it is," she said with a shrug. Severus sighed as he removed his cloak and placed it on her thin shoulders. She was surprised by this and looked to him, about to protest.

"My robes look warmer than yours," he said stubbornly, indicating she should not start because she wouldn't be able to convince him to take his cloak back. She smiled as she looked down at her feet, clearly feeling slightly guilty.

"Thanks," she replied, shivering lightly at the sudden warmth that engulfed her. His body heat still clung to his cloak. "Have you eaten anything yet? I know this Italian place nearby that almost no one seems to know about. My treat since I get to wear your cloak," she said, smiling up at him so that he was unable to refuse. He nodded in resignation and allowed her to lead the way.

---

It didn't take them too long to arrive at the restaurant and apparently no one really knew about it as they was only one other person there eating. It was a fairly small place, well furnished and very warmly colored. Severus and Samara sat down in a booth against the wall and sat opposite of each other.

Strangely enough, their waiter was a fairly older, Irish man. He seemed to be in about his late forties and had a very kind face. He looked at them and smiled brightly, taking their orders, which Severus ordered the exact same thing as Samara, but instead of drinking lemonade as she had, he asked for pumpkin juice.

Most of the meal, they spent talking about Defense Against the Dark Arts and about how things were going at school for Samara. Severus had the feeling that Samara sensed that her Professor didn't really feel comfortable about speaking about personal and private things and chose non-personal topics to discuss while they ate. At some point, Severus noted that she took her wand out of her robes pocket and removed the Concealment Charm, explaining that it was particularly exhausting to keep a hold of constantly.

As she'd removed his cloak in the warmth of the restaurant he noted that her waist line had grown about an inch since the last time he'd seen it. He asked her how her weight-gaining was going and this launched into a discussion about the baby and his lightly reprimanding her for still not having have gained very much weight as it was now her fifth month of pregnancy.

Samara merely smiled at this enigmatically as if she knew a secret. She was amused by the way that he was more concerned about her safety and the baby's than she was and wondered why. She was also very aware of the fact that she was the only one that he was like this with. He hardly ever got angry with her or yelled at her anymore. He was overly patient with her and he seemed to be very obliging with her. She didn't know anyone else who could tease Professor Snape and live to tell the tale, not that anyone knew that she teased the great Potions Master; she would never discredit or test him like that around anyone.

"Would you care for desert?" the waiter asked in his deep and heavily accented voice. Severus merely shook his head as he looked at the man. Samara looked up and smiled up at him, she had a very large and disgusting craving for chocolate. She'd never liked chocolate, however, the child wanted to eat very strange things lately, chocolate was simply something normal.

"Can I have chocolate cake?" she asked.

"Of course," he said with a smile as he walked away. Samara turned to Severus and explained that usually she hated chocolate. Before he said anything in response the man came back and set a small plate of cake before her and smiled. "Anything else Misses?" he asked as Samara daintily picked up her fork. Samara didn't seem to catch the fact that he didn't say Miss and thought that perhaps it was just her imagination or his accent.

"Not thank you," she replied, smiling up at him politely. The man smiled and turned to Severus.

"Beautiful wife you got there sir, you're a very lucky man," the man said. Severus looked up and could swear he almost felt a blush creeping onto his face and merely nodded very stiffly, allowing the man to walk away. Slowly, though he dreaded it, Severus turned and looked over at Samara who had dug her fork into her cake but was staring at him strangely.

"I suppose he assumed because I'm pregnant," Samara said, blushing lightly. "Umm… thanks for not correcting him, don't want people to think I'm a slut," Samara said, looking down at her place sheepishly.

"You are not a slut Samara, don't ever let me hear you say that again," Severus reprimanded. Samara looked up surprised, and smiled at him. However, her smile soon changed as she looked at him.

"You know, that's the first time you've ever called me by my first name?" she asked as she looked at him. He raised a brow at this.

"I wasn't aware," he replied curtly as he looked at her. She smiled as if saying she was always aware, however, merely bit into her cake smiling blissfully.

**TBC…**

** A/N: **Thanks to everyone that's reviewing. I hope that everyone liked the chapter and continued to review!**  
**


	19. Valentines Day Sucks

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 19: Valentines Day Sucks**_

January quickly disappeared and February blew in as mercilessly as the winds that it blew in with. He didn't so much mind, until he stepped into the Great Hall and saw all the pink and red and realized that it had to be Valentines Day. He grimaced, he'd always hated Valentines Day, most especially when he was a Hogwarts student and had to watch Lily receive countless cards, candies and flowers.

However, before he could walk into the room he found someone bumped into him and fall to the ground. Severus eyes widened in horror as he realized that it was Samara and bent over her, worried that she might severely injure herself. "Samara, are you all right?" he asked as he reached out to her arm and helped her to her feet, she looked all right. The girl was now six months pregnant and needed to take very good care of herself.

"Yes I'm fine," she said as she stood up and pulled her arm out of his and rubbed at her eyes furiously. Severus furrowed his brow as he stared down at her face. Something was very wrong.

"What's wrong Samara?" he asked as he looked at her. Samara looked up at him and stared into his eyes. He could see angry tears in her eyes.

"She… she took him back and… they're having a kid," she said angrily as she continued to rub at her eyes angrily, forcing the tears away. Severus looked at her in worry, she was rubbing them with enough force to gauge them out. "What the fu…" she shivered and shook off the anger, not allowing herself to utter the curse word. "What is she doing? How can she bring another child into _that_?"

"Samara, I understand you're angry, but you know you have to calm down," Severus said, gently taking a hold of her arms. Samara looked up into his eyes and nodded before closing her eyes and taking in a few deep and calming breaths. She turned and looked up at her Professor.

"Thanks," she said, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Severus stared down at Samara, who really had to start being much more careful. He noted that recently she walked a little slower than what was the usual and had a bit trouble standing up. She had a hard time making her standing seem natural to her friends and seemed to be pulling away from them all more and more recently.

"Are you going to be okay?" he asked as he stared at her. She nodded after a moment. "Well you know to go to Madame Pomfrey or me if you think that you need something," he said as he stared down at her. Samara smiled up at him and nodded, though he could see that she was still struggling with anger and pain within her. That she was trying her best to fend it off with the smile on her face.

"Thank you Professor Snape," Samara said as she bit down on her lower lip and looked towards the floor. "I have to go," she said after a brief moment. She then merely nodded towards him and walked away. Severus furrowed his brow as he watched her walking away, hoping that she would be all right.

----

The day, overall, had been very miserable for him. Samara, as beautiful as she was, was very likely to receive a lot of attention and of course she did. By the time that she showed up to his class, she seemed rather flustered as she was being followed around by several boys, all trying to speak to her at the same time, holding out gifts, and shoving each other out of the way to get closer to her.

Severus had looked over at her and grimaced for a brief moment. His stomach clenched rather violently and he felt his mouth twitching into a snarl that he was forced to recover from quite quickly. Apparently Samara Green with her raven black hair, sweet disposition and enchanting hazel eyes was much more popular amongst the male population than Lily. While she'd received endless amount of cards, candies and flowers, she didn't have the boys stalking her like this.

Samara had looked over at him and gave him a pleading look to get them all away from her as she entered the classroom. Severus assumed that her sweet disposition wouldn't allow her to yell at people who clearly admired her to get the hell away from her. He supposed that while Samara was one to lose her temper every once in a while, that it had to be over something serious and offensive, and fawning boys simply did not qualify, no matter how vexing it was to her.

While nothing could have made Severus happier than to beat the boys that encircled her to get them away, he merely looked away when she pleaded with her eyes at him. However, the moment the bell rang he shouted for them all to get to their seats and that they would have plenty of time outside of his class to enjoy the stupid holiday.

Now, he was sitting in his office, melting into his armchair and massaging his throbbing temples. He wondered why he'd never before noticed that Samara was so popular amongst the male population. He supposed it was because during the year, boys seemed to be frightened of her male friends, who worked as a sort of brotherly protection unit to ward off other boys. Except for Timothy whom he was fairly sure liked her and didn't want anyone else to get her.

Today, it was made painfully aware to him that Samara was very well-liked. He supposed he should have known better, after all if even _he_ could fall in love with her, why wouldn't everyone else? He wouldn't say that he was particularly picky, because he certainly had no right to be, but he'd only ever loved one witch before Samara and he had been quite sure that his love for her would never be replaced.

Samara though, the girl wonder, had managed to push Lily out of his heart and settle in her place, and expand herself in his being so that she was all that was left in him. Or well, not her but what he felt for her. It was a great achievement, considering that it was an accomplishment in itself to get him to _like_ anything, let alone fall in love and then make him forget about what he'd thought had been his greatest love.

What was it about Samara that had gotten to him? He knew it had nothing to do with her appearance, though she was the most beautiful creature he'd ever set eyes upon. It wasn't her brilliance, that was simply what had allowed him to respect her. It wasn't her happy disposition either, because normally happy people vexed him.

He supposed that it was how friendly she was and the fact that she wasn't put off by his attitude. In her first years as his student, she'd never been frightened of him, unlike all the other students that were in her year. It was as though she couldn't hear him when he was shouting and when he tried to insult her, that she was hearing something completely different or thought he was telling a joke. There was simply no way to intimidate her or rile her up.

But more than anything, it was her resilience. She'd come from a home, more broken than his own, yet she was more well-adjusted then he could ever have been. She could still smile at the world and try to befriend everyone. She even managed to avoid becoming cynical and bitter about love, despite the example that she had at home. That was not something he would have ever accomplished. It was something he never had accomplished. Samara was so much more of a better person than he could ever be. Considering what she came from, she had every right to be angry and hateful, which would have been all too easy, but she wasn't.

That was the great difference between herself and Lily. Lily had a very happy childhood. She was a carefree child that came from very loving parents. Samara, if he had to be completely honest, had an abusive, neglectful father who was gone half the time and a mother too weak to do what was really best for her child, which was keep her father away. Yet, Samara was still sweet, sweeter than Lily in fact.

Severus shook his head, thinking that he really shouldn't be comparing them. Lily and Samara, while having things in common were completely different entities. He loved Lily, she was his childhood love, his first love, though, she'd never returned it; for that simple fact she would always have a special place in his heart. However, he couldn't deny that Samara was… so much more. That what he felt for her surpassed everything else and that she was all of s sudden the most important thing in the world to him.

Slowly, Severus opened his eyes and was slightly taken aback to see the Owl that was sitting there, watching him. He glared at the thing and wondered how he'd never heard it fly in. He wondered if he'd lost himself in his thoughts so much that he hadn't even noticed it. He reached out slowly for the leg and untied it, allowing the beast to fly off. Who was sending him an owl?

_Dear Professor Snape,_

_Thanks a lot for your help this afternoon in Potions. That's sarcasm, just so you know. You can't make that easily apparent over a letter. Anyway, I just wanted to wish you a Happy Valentines Day. Though, it may have become a commercial holiday, the original thought of spreading love and friendship was pretty good._

_Sincerely yours,  
Samara Green_

Severus stared down at the relatively short letter and furrowed his brows, though a smile came over his face. He imagined if someone were to see him at the moment, they'd think he'd been placed under the confundus charm. However, his gaze was caught at the bottom of the letter. Sincerely yours?

He reached into his robe pocket, where ever since Christmas he'd been carried the Christmas card and ribbon with him everywhere. He was sure if he could carry the book with him everywhere he would also, but that was safely tucked away in his nightstand. He looked at the bottom of the letter of her Christmas card and stared at the simplye word, sincerely. Why had she gone from _Sincerely_, to _Sincerely yours_? Did that mean something? Sincerely yours?

**TBC…**

**A/N: **Thanks to everyone reviewing, you guys are great! Hope you liked the chapter and continue to review!


	20. Caesar Worthy Tragedy

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 20: Caesar-Worthy Tragedy**_

The ides of March, Severus shivered as he settled down in his office for the evening to grading. He didn't know why, but all day today he had a very bad feeling like something was going to go terribly wrong. He didn't know why, and he didn't particularly like the feeling. He wanted it to go away, but it hung around him like a cold chill. He'd constantly been looking over his shoulder, wondering if something nefarious was stalking him, waiting to behead him or something.

Severus wondered if perhaps he was quite possibly, just loosing his mind. Perhaps all the strain of trying to stay away from Samara while trying to protect her and behave normally was getting to him. Perhaps all his resistance was causing him to go insane, particularly lately as Samara seemed to be everywhere he was. He didn't understand how, considering the fact that she was still helping Madam Pomfrey in the Hospital wing as best she could and struggling through her studies, though from what he heard from all her Professors was that she was doing as well as ever.

Professor Default had even mentioned that she was doing better in his class and that it was undoubtedly do to his great teaching skills. Severus could have hexed him into oblivion for that one. The audacity of taking credit for something the man had nothing to do with, when it was Severus how was tutoring Samara in the subject. Severus had to simply stab at his meal with his fork to keep from boiling over.

He was just about to open a bottle of red ink for grading, to dip his quill in when the door of his office burst open. Severus looked up rather vexed to see who had interrupted him in this manner, but frowned at the sight. A very pale and clammy, Timothy Elias standing in his office, rushing over towards his desk. "Professor Snape, something is wrong with Samara," he said very quickly.

"Where is she?" Severus asked, jumping to his feet. Timothy turned away and started to lead the way down the hall towards Slytherin, half-jogging and half-speed walking. "We were in the library studying and we were walking back towards Slytherin when she collapsed and she told me to go get you," Timothy said as he rushed down the hall. Severus felt his stomach tighten and wondered what was wrong.

However, the pain only seemed to double when they rounded a corner and neared Slytherin. Halfway down the hall he spotted a small figure on their knees, near one of the walls, doubled over in what had to be pain. Samara had one hand to her stomach, while the other was trying to clench to the wall. She was shutting her eyes tight and tears were streaming down her face at the amount of pain that she felt.

Severus broke his hurried gate and ran over to her side, kneeling down beside her. "Samara, what's wrong?" Severus asked as he looked at her. Samara opened her eyes and turned up her tears stained face, he could see that it was glistening lightly with perspiration. Her face was chalk-white and she looked like a frightened little girl, as she shook her head and groaned once more causing her to double over in pain.

"We need to get you to the hospital wing," he said as he looked at her. He was afraid to pick her up and move her from where she was in this condition so he merely summoned a stretcher and helped her on it. He then turned to the helpless and worried Timothy. "She'll be fine, you need to get into Slytherin before curfew."

"But Professor…"

"Please Tim, just do it," Samara pleaded, her voice strained with pain. Timothy silenced his protest as Severus walked away with Samara. It felt to him like it took forever to get to the Hospital wing, though he tried to get there as fast as was actually possible, considering Samara's condition. He tried his best to ignore the groans and whimpers of pain that issued from the girl, because each one seemed to hammer at his heart or clip it painfully so that it felt like he was dropping pieces of it along the way.

Once they'd arrived into the hospital wing, the pain didn't get any better as he watched uselessly as Madam Pomfrey laid her on the bed. She pushed him away as she pulled the curtains around the bed. Severus ran his hands through his hair in frustration, wondering what the hell happened to Samara and not being able to ask Madam Pomfrey because she was busy trying to help the girl.

Severus turned around and walked out of the Hospital wing and paced outside its doors when he could no longer take the pain anymore. His thoughts were running wild and each and every thought was on Samara alone. Which he supposed wasn't any different than any other time, but it was worse now as he was worried for her safety. A part of him actually felt physically sick and like he could throw up. However, he sucked it up.

He didn't know exactly how long he was pacing outside the hospital so erratically, however it felt like several hours, not that he could be trusted to judge time as it felt as thought it was passing painfully slowly to him. He felt as though he was loosing his mind, however, he did have the presence of mind to compose himself when he caught sight of Pomfrey coming out of the curtained, and closed off area she had quarantined Samara in.

"What happened?" Severus asked when the grim looking woman walked over, he'd really wanted to know if Samara was all right, but he supposed that this question would seem more neutral. He knew something had gone terribly wrong by the look on the Healers face, and his stomach started to churn violently, like a tornado had been let lose in it, causing the contents to whirl around violently fast.

"The baby's heart stopped beating and her body was simply trying to get rid of the dead weight," she said severely.

"Why did its heart stop beating?" he asked.

"It could be any number of reasons really. The baby could have developed wrong, the baby's heart could have been weak, Samara could have received a great shock and it affected the baby, she could've been eating food that wasn't very good for the baby's heart, but they all seem very unlikely to me," Madam Pomfrey said.

"How is Samara?" Severus finally asked.

"Distraught. She's beating herself up about it, she thinks it's her fault," Madam Pomfrey responded. Severus felt his heart clench and he almost reached up to it as if he could reach into his chest and steady his heart. However, he merely clenched his hand into a fist to keep it from reaching up. "I'll need to keep her here for a couple of days," Madam Pomfrey said. Severus merely nodded in response to this.

"I should probably tell her friends; undoubtedly at least one of them is waiting for some kind of explanation," Severus said, turning to go and trying to occupy his mind with a lie to tell Timothy. Though, he greatly wanted to go see Samara.

**TBC…**

**A/n:** I know, depressing chapter, but please leave a review.**  
**


	21. The Secret Storm

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 21: The Secret Storm**_

Samara didn't take her miscarriage at all well, as was expected. Over the remaining weeks, she did a very thorough job of alienating herself from her friends and from most teachers as well. She even told him that she didn't need to be tutored anymore and she could continue on her own.

She once more dedicated herself to only her studies and helping out Madam Pomfrey. While all of her Professors started to see an improvement on her already high grades, they were all very concerned. They'd thought that she was getting better, that she'd gotten over her depression and were confused to see that she was depressed all over again.

It pained Severus endlessly, to know what was wrong and be unable to do anything about it. He cursed his inability to even try and console the girl he so loved. He was at a complete loss for what to do and all he could do was watch her move unhappily through her life, unsmilingly and with pain and guilt clouding her vision constantly. It was like at last, after everything that she had been through, her ever-resilient spirit had finally been broken.

While wandering through the hallways, he ignored the loud claps of thunder and the lightning flashes that only momentarily lit up the dark hallways of Hogwarts with blinding light for the time it took one to blink. His mind was completely lost in the memory of Samara that morning in the very beginning of his Potions class. She'd merely sat there, all catatonic, staring at her cauldron for a moment as if she'd completely forgotten what to do with it.

He'd had to shake her on the shoulder to shake her out of it. She'd then turned to him and, with a tragic attempt at a smile, looked at him before turning to her cauldron and getting started on the assignment. She only ever tried to smile at him, every once in a while. As if she could sense what her unsmiling facade was doing to him and was trying to smile at him with all her might to make him feel better, but something inside of her was battling against her and actually winning, defeating all her attempts to continue to smile at least to him.

Severus didn't understand it; Samara had never shown particular attachment to the child that had been growing inside of her. In the seven months that she was pregnant, she always referred to the baby as an IT. Had she grown a sudden attachment to the unborn child when she lost it? Or did she simply feel like something that was her had died?

Madam Pomfrey had commented to him that she'd even asked for the gender of the dead child, as if to torment herself, make her feel worse about the whole thing. Apparently upon hearing that Samara had a baby girl, she broke down all the more. Severus wondered if perhaps she had simply hid her attachment to the child, because she just didn't want anyone to know that she was happy about having one. However, he pushed this thought aside. Samara had never lied to him and he didn't think she would, even if it was only unconsciously.

Although, he couldn't be too sure of that either. After all, in all her dismal attempts to smile at him, wasn't she trying to lie to him and by showing him that she was fine even though she wasn't? But he figured that was something completely different. Those were more like white-lies, trying to make him feel better. Besides, she would have no reason at all to hide the fact that she was looking forward to having the baby from him; none that he could think of, at least.

Severus paused his midnight prowl through the mainly empty castle, as most of the students had gone home for the Easter holidays, to look out the window. He scowled when he caught sight of a thin figure, standing in the pouring rain. However, he could only see a dark outline, but he guessed it was a student, as he very much doubted any of the staff would be standing out there in this rain. It wasn't that it was cold; there was no wind tonight, and it was the beginning of April, however, the rain was sure to make it feel cold.

He shook his head, knowing that he would have to step out into the rain. In a very unhurried way, he made his way through the halls of Hogwarts to the nearest exit. He was half-hoping that by the time he reached the doorway that the student will have gotten out of the rain and started to head to their dorm. To his displeasure, as he stood in an open doorway, the student was still just standing there, immobile and looking up to the sky.

Severus pulled his wand from his pocket and placed the Impervius charm on himself, before stepping out. He really didn't feel like getting wet. Quickening his gate as he walked out into the rain, which was repelled from his body and not at all drenching him, he walked over to the figure. Once he stood behind the figure, he noted that long black hair was loose and that the figure was indeed a female student. To his immense surprise, not just any student either, but the student he'd been in love with for the better part of his teaching career.

"You need to get back to the castle, you are going to catch a cold out here," Severus said, causing Samara to turn her drenched face to look at him. Through the darkness, his keen eyesight, which was very used to the darkness, caught the look of peace on her face. She shook her head as she looked at him and turned her face back to the sky. "That wasn't a request Samara."

Samara merely shook her head. "It was my fault," she said, turning slowly to look at him. He furrowed his brow. "If I wanted her more…"

"It's not your fault Samara," Severus said.

"But that doesn't matter. If it was or wasn't, I'm still horrible," she said as she turned to look into his eyes. Her eyes, which looked black held a tortured glint in them as they looked at him and he could see that she'd been crying and that she wanted the rain to wash it all away. As if it could. "For the first moment… I felt relief, because I didn't know what would've happened next. Because I was scared what would happen at the end of the year and I had to go home, especially if he's going to be there," she said, her voice cracking with the guilt that she'd been locking within herself.

"How could I? How could I feel relief at the death of another human being? Of a child, nonetheless! My child!" she asked as she looked at him, before casting her glance down at the floor. Severus felt his face twist in pain as he stared at her. She was starting to shake and he knew it wasn't because she was cold or because she was drenched. Over the billions of pattering raindrops that fell around them ceaselessly, he could hear her quiet sobs, like a piercing cry of a banshee, hurting him horribly.

"You're not horrible Samara," he said, wrapping his arms around her so that she would stop shaking; feeling warmth spread through his body everywhere hers made contact with his. He expected her to stiffen in his embrace, like he was death taking her in its arms, but instead she melted into him, accepting his attempt to console her. "You don't need to punish yourself by ending your life as well, Samara. Death is part of life, you can't let the passing of the dead and your guilt allow you to be dragged with them as well."

"But… the little girl deserved a chance to live and to be loved," Samara cried as her hands clung to his chest as she buried her face into his shoulder. Her body still shook with tears and her voice cracked with her pain.

"Many people who deserve to live pass away Samara," Severus said gently, feeling his grief for Lily resurfacing a little. He leaned his head down, the tip of his nose pressing into her wet hair, but not feeling it because of the impervious charm, however, he could still smell the pomegranates. "But if you allow yourself to waste away and not go on living your life, you are mocking the dead. You still have your life to live, and you have to enjoy it."

Samara's shivering stopped and she nodded into his shoulder. She sighed as she let go of his chest and wrapped her arms around his torso, causing Severus to stiffen in her embrace. He thought that she was going to disengage herself from him, but instead found that she was now clinging closer to him than before, her chest pressed against his as she held onto him tight. She pressed her face in the crook of his shoulder and neck, but he couldn't feel her wet face touching the skin of his neck, though he smelled a small amount of pressure which caused him to shiver.

"We should probably get you up to the castle before you get sick," Severus said as he stared down at her. Samara pulled away very slowly and looked up into his eyes, smiling. Severus felt his heart lift a little, to see that she didn't have to struggle to smile. Had he really been able to console someone?

"Thanks Professor Snape. I think you are far too good to me," she said as she looked into his eyes. Severus froze beneath her sight and motioned for them to head back towards the castle. He thanked whatever ultimate, omniscient power for the cloak of darkness, as he was sure the heat in his face indicated a blush.

"You are my favorite student, and you were dealt a hand that was hardly fair," he said as they walked. Samara cast a side-long glance over at the Potions Master.

"No, that's why you respect me. Not why you protect me and allow me to tease you," Samara said, confidently. Severus looked over at the girl on his right.

"What do you mean?" Severus said coolly.

"I'll like _you_ to say it when you are ready to admit it to me," she said enigmatically. "I'm not ready to tell you either, still need to heal, but for now, you already know why I respect you. And I wish I were a little more like you and not care about hurting anyone's feelings with the things I say or my actions, most especially when people need to be put in line."

"I would never want you to be like me," Severus said a little darkly.

"I can't, even if I want to be a little like you," Samara said with a little shrug as they stepped into the castle and she dried the rain off herself with a charm. Severus turned to her to see that she was still standing in the doorway, the pattering rain and Hogwarts green grounds becoming a background to her thin figure. She'd lost all the weight she'd put during her pregnancy very quickly because of her depression-guilt-trip. "So I suppose I will always be your dear, sweet Samara. Only growing and becoming wiser," she said with a smile. "Good night Professor Snape."

Severus watched her walking away, feeling his head spinning at everything that she had just said and not understanding any of it. Sleep would not come tonight.

**TBC…**


	22. Of All The Stars

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 22: Of All The Stars**_

Severus walked into one of the empty high-ceilinged rooms of Hogwarts and was surprised to see Samara standing there. In the pale light of April's fool moon she looked quite beautiful. Her tall, thin form was clothed in a long white dress. While the dress and her skin glowed in the light of the moon, her raven black hair did not and was only more apparent as it was loose and contrasted so against her skin. The moment felt too surreal and Severus wondered for a moment if perhaps he was simply strayed into a dream.

Samara slowly turned to see who had intruded on her and smiled when she saw it was Professor Snape. "This is Erised. I found it when I was a second year, Professor Dumbledore explained to me why it is so special," Samara explained, causing Severus to quirk a brow. He stepped closer so that he was on Samara's right and looked up at the inscription over the mirror. _Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oy on wohsi. _

"Why is it so special?" Severus asked as he looked into the mirror and saw a reflection of himself and Samara.

"Would you like to see?" Samara asked as she moved away from his side and stood next to the mirror. Severus frowned when he found that he was still staring at himself in the mirror with Samara. For a moment, he turned to look to his left, where Samara had previously been standing and turned to look at the mirror where she was still standing.

"I don't understand, all I see…"

"Don't tell me what you see, you might find it a little too private to really want to share it," she said gently as she smiled over at him, a knowing half-smile. Severus turned from the Samara in the mirror to the one standing next to it. April was nearly coming to an end and Samara had been very steadily improving. "You see, Erised shows you your hearts deepest and most desperate desire."

Severus felt himself pale as he turned from looking at Samara and looked into the mirror once more. The Samara in the mirror was now holding hands, fingers laced, with those of his reflection. For a moment, he almost looked at his hand, however, he resisted, knowing that he was not holding her hand. "I see," Severus said, turning away from the mirror and looking over at Samara.

"It's completely useless if you already know what that is," Samara said with a shrug. "When I was twelve I saw my mum and me, happy. Once Dumbledore explained what Erised does, I didn't ever see the point in coming back here to look at it. What is the point of wasting away in front of a dream?"

"So does that mean what you see in the mirror has changed?" Severus asked, taking notice that she said she _used__to_ see herself and her mother. Samara smiled as she looked at him.

"I still see someone I love whom I want to be with me and be happy with," she replied enigmatically. "But I didn't need to look into the mirror to know it, and if I want it to be more than a dream I won't keep coming back here to just look into the mirror."

"Then why come to look at it in the first place if you already knew and say it's pointless to waste away in dreams?" he asked as he looked at her. She smiled as she looked at him.

"Isn't it nice to not just see it in your head, at least once? I think it's a good motivator to achieve your dreams," she responded lightly. Severus stared at the Samara in the mirror, who was smiling up at him and looking at him in the exact same way that he real Samara was looking at him. Slowly, he turned his gaze away from the mirror and looked at the girl that was leaning against the gold frame of the mirror.

He hadn't understood what she'd meant that night after stepping in from the rain and he'd tried not to think about it at all. He couldn't ever dare dream that she was in love with him. Yet, had she not said that she was _his_ dear sweet Samara? The thought alone that she'd said it made his heart warm up and his stomach to feel uncomfortably light and jittery.

"I see you," Severus said in almost a whisper as he looked over at her, not knowing why he was confessing it, other than the fact that the emotion was overwhelming him and he couldn't keep it in anymore. He expected her to be confused about what he was speaking about, or else be in complete shock if she understood what he meant. However, she merely continued to smile as she stared back into his eyes, seemingly unfazed. Trust Samara to never do the expected.

"I know," she replied in a whisper as well, as she looked back into his eyes. For once, he saw something in Samara that reminded him so much of when he looked into Dumbledore's eyes, the same knowing twinkle of delight. He stared at her in confusion, wondering how she knew and wondering if he made it that obvious. "Love is easy to see when you know where to look. You know why no one else has ever known that you have been in love? Because no one has thought you capable of it. It is the reason you are able to hide it so well. But I know that is not the case and I've known what you felt for me since fifth year, before you knew yourself."

Severus stared at her, feeling completely bare before her, wondering what else her eyes could see. It was like, she saw the world in such a simplistic way, that it allowed her to see more than any others. He stared at her in confusion, wondering how she was not at all disgusted about what he felt for her and why if she knew since she was in her fifth year she didn't pull away from him. "Why aren't you repulsed by it?"

"Because I see you too," she responded so softly that he could hardly hear her words. However, nothing that she ever said would he allow to slip away. He felt his heart stop before it hopped excitedly all over the place. However, he couldn't help but feel as though he'd been winded as well and couldn't breathe. Could he really have heard her correctly, or was he just dreaming? He couldn't imagine that the beautiful young woman standing before him, who seemed to be light of the great world could possibly love _him_, who was her antithesis in every single way.

For a long moment, they stood, staring into each other's eyes. There was nothing that Severus could say into response to that. He wasn't sure if he could actually say anything in response to that. What was he to do? No one, in the history of his life, had ever loved him and he wasn't sure how he was supposed to handle this in the first place, let alone be able to handle all the complication of their specific situation.

First of all, she was his student. Second of all, he was ten years her senior, which wasn't much, but considering the fact that she _was_ his _student_, it was completely forbidden. Third of all, while he loved her and dreamed every night of being with her, he had the presence of mind and loved her more than enough to know that she could do so much better than him. That she deserved so much more than him, because who was he to deserve her? A former Death Eater who was emotionally ill-prepared to love anyone, let alone show it.

"Samara, you can't love me. You don't know anything about me," he finally said as he looked over at her, finally finding his voice. No, he was well aware that this was far from the right thing to say and that he was killing the moment, but what else could he say? He was her Professor and more importantly he really did love her and... she deserved the world; he was beneath her.

Samara down-cast her gaze and tucked her lose hair behind her ears. "I see… I thought that you would question what I feel for you, not doubt it," she said, her voice light yet sad. She looked over at him after a moment, her eyes were once more ablaze and the knowing glint had become that anger he knew that burned inside her. However, she controlled it and looked over at him in a morose calm with a weakened smile that tore at his heart. "I suppose this is what it feels to be truly rejected."

"Samara… you are still very young," he started out saying, however, she raised her hand to silence him and shook her head.

"You're now patronizing me," Samara said, looking over at him. "My sweet, friendly, innocent disposition makes you think of me as a child, but I'm a woman more than you know. I can see things more clearly than most and see through lies and facades. Do not presume to know what I feel. Do not presume because I do not know of your past, or very much information about your personal life that I do not love you, because I fell in love with the man before me."

Stunned into silence and submission, Severus continued to stare at her. "I will not be your ruin Samara, you will find someone else," he said sternly, after a long moment. She merely shook her head as she headed for the doorway. She'd planned to leave him, without saying a word, however, as she stood, holding the doorknob, she cast a glance over her shoulder at him. To no surprise, he was watching her. She could see a part of him, wishing to reach out to her and know if she was fine, but that rational side of him was holding him back.

"I've found _you_. You are asking me to forget the light of the world, the very sun, and conform with just any common star from the billions in the night sky," she murmured, before turning back to the door and walking out of the room.

**TBC…**

**A/N:** Sorry about taking so long to update, I've been watching Bones Season 2 on DVD cause I finally got it. Anyway, I hope that everyone likes the chapter and reviews!**  
**


	23. Enter Pinky

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 23: Enter Pinky**_

Samara was easily forgiven for her distancing of the group by Timothy that which only too obvious to Severus. Ethan didn't seem to care very much and started talking to her as well. He knew that Nate, was tormenting her with his taunts, trying to make her feel guilty, but he _was _speaking to her. The girls however, were proving to be quite unforgiving and as Drake was dating Marietta and was under her thumb, he was also.

But as he hurtled down towards the gathering group of students out on the lawn, where he had just spotted Samara in full duel with both Jessica and Marietta, he didn't think that the girls would be angry enough to double team on her. Severus had never before seen Samara in an actual duel. There had been that one time in her fourth year when she was fighting against a Griffindor, but, he hadn't seen anything. By the time he'd made it to the scene she was disarmed and planning out a next move, which was when he ended up beneath her, sprawled out in mud.

He was very surprised to see that Samara was quite capable of defending against two opponents and it wasn't because her opponents were weak. He guessed that every minute Marietta and Jessica were each throwing out two spells, which Samara could repel and answer to with a spell of her own. He could see that she'd been hit by a few, however, he could also see that she'd caused in the least a bit of the same damage on the other two girls.

As he approached, he could vaguely see perspiration on all three girls' foreheads and see that they were breathing a little hard and wondered how long they'd been going at it. Meanwhile, the look on Jessica and Marietta's face was a mixture of anger, hate, an envy; which differed from Samara's expression completely. There was purposefulness in her attack and determination and deep concentration in her eyes. The fierce look on her face as she concentrated on every spell and move made against her made Severus shiver. Behind her eyes, he could see the inner workings of her mind, see the wheels in her brilliant mind analyzing every move and forcing her body to respond with her fast reflexes.

He wondered what had possessed her to do this? Was he the cause for this aggression? He shook his head of this as he finally broke through the circle, it was nearly the second week of May and since that night, Samara still acted the same around him and with everyone as she had been recently. She had shown him no sign of resentment or pain. He thought that either she kept if very well hidden, or that she was simply not giving up yet. A part of him, that part of him that didn't want her to hurt, hoped that it was the latter. But … the part of him that was scared to love hoped it was not.

"What's going on here?" he asked loudly in his silkiest tone, causing all three girls to stop and turn to look at him. He furrowed his brow and cast glance to the floor just beyond where Samara stood, where a smaller girl was lying unconscious on the ground. Her mousy brown hair was horribly pink at the roots and from the looks of it she was a Hufflepuff first year. It took him a few moments to realize that he was staring at Nymphadora Tonks, the complete disaster of a child who just happened to be a metamorphmagus.

Silence from the whole crowd that had gathered around and from the three girls ensued. While Jessica and Marietta stared at him and each other momentarily horrified of being caught dueling, Samara on the other hand, was watching apprehensively. However, she didn't seem too interested in answering the question when she heard a whimper behind her. Slowly she turned around and bent down to the girl that lay at her feet.

It didn't take long for Severus to understand the protective stance that Samara had taken over the girl. It was only too obvious that Jessica and Marietta must've been picking on the first year, and Samara had stood up against them, despite the fact that she was at odds with them and that she considered them to be her friends. She stood up against them, to protect someone she didn't even know, probably only because the girl was younger than they were.

Severus raised a hand to silence the two girls that were beginning to spew lies about how Samara had started the whole thing. "I understand perfectly well what happened here and I don't really care. As far as I'm concerned all three of you have detention. You know the school rules perfectly well and you know you are not to participate in duels and that it does not matter who started it," Severus said coldly as he looked at the two girls before turning to look at the rest of the students. "I suggest you all leave now, as I'll be taking points off anyone I see standing around."

With that, the students started to wander away. Those who did not leave fast enough, he called after them taking in the minimum, five points off of each of their houses. This seemed to motivate all the other students as they all started to rush away quite quickly. "That went for you as well," Severus pointed out as he looked at the two girls.

They strode away quickly, both merely nodding and apparently thankful that the worst that they had gotten was a detention. However, they both glared over at Samara as they walked away. But Samara didn't seem to take notice of anything but the younger girl that she was trying to get to wake up. Thus far, the girl seemed to be coming out of it slowly, and Samara was helping her sit up, allowing the young girl to partially rest on her.

Severus slowly strode over to the kneeling Samara and stood behind her. "How is Miss Tonks doing?" he asked with no real interest in the girl. So long as she wasn't dead or morbidly ill, he didn't care.

"When I got here, she was struggling to get up. I stood up for her, told them to stop, but they wouldn't so I stood between her and them. I guess she must've lost consciousness when I started to fight them, but I think she'll be fine," Samara responded gently as she pushed hair out of the girls face. She looked so gentle, holding up the younger girl and for a moment, Severus was forced to recognize that as young as Samara was, that she would've made a great mother.

Severus nodded in response and was about to ask her why, when the unconscious girl finally opened her eyes and looked at Samara. "Hey, are you all right?" Samara asked as she looked down at the girl.

"You… you helped me. Why? You're in Slytherin and I'm only a half-blood and you were outnumbered," the girl said somewhat quickly as her hair continued to turn pink. Severus took this to mean that Tonks was embarrassed. Samara smiled as she looked down at the girl.

"I hardly thought it was right that they were picking on you, you're only a first year and to tell you the truth, I was always a little confused about being in Slytherin myself," Samara said lightly as she helped the girl sit up.

"But you don't know me, and _you are in Slytherin_. Why did you help me when you were outnumbered?" Tonks said, clearly still confused. Samara smiled as she stood up.

"Why does everyone always assume the worst of us Slytherins? Do you think we don't have a sense of honor, justice and morality?" Samara asked, slightly amused as the girl continued to blush more profusely, turning her hair hot pink. "Kid, it doesn't matter where you come from, your bloodline doesn't matter either. People are who they are. You seem pretty special for a half-blood Hufflepuff, don't you think?"

"Hey!" Tonks said defensively as she got to her feet. However, she got head-rush from having stood to quickly and as big of a klutz she was, she was about to become seriously injured. However, she felt a hand holding on to her, keeping her on her feet. Tonks opened her eyes to see that Samara was smiling in amusement of her anger, and staring at her with gentle eyes. Tonks could hardly believe anyone so nice could be in Slytherin. "Thanks," she mumbled in embarrassment.

"Don't worry Pinky. I'm a half-blood Slytherin, and you'll find most people are half-bloods or less. Don't ever listen to that pure-blood nonsense," Samara said. Tonks looked up at Samara's hazel eyes and stared into them, smiling. "Do you feel better?" Tonks merely nodded in response. Samara then nodded in return before turning around, about to walk away.

"My name is Tonks. Well, Nymphadora Tonks, but I hate my first name," Tonks said, causing Samara to turn around. She smiled at Tonks and nodded.

"My name is Samara Green, I suppose my friends call me Gumby," Samara said, with a light shrug, casting a glance at Professor Snape who was watching the whole exchange with a raised brow, with his forever neutral mask over his features. Samara turned her gaze back to Tonks and could see that the first year was smiling over at Samara.

"Your Slytherin friends? I'll just call you Sammy," Tonks said. Samara laughed lightly.

"All right, Pinky, you should get inside for some lunch, it'll return you some of your strength," Samara said in that voice that reminded one of Pomfrey or their mother, motioning towards the castle. Tonks smiled as she walked over to Samara. Severus stood watching at the two girls disappeared into the castle. Samara was quite a bit taller than the first year. Severus assumed by at least a foot and a half. Perhaps more-so as Tonks was exceptionally small for her age. "Good Day Professor Snape," Samara said as she turned around and waved at her favorite professor.

Severus nodded a very curt nod, feeling his heart fill up with more love and admiration for Samara. He wondered just _why_ she was in _Slytherin_. He'd already assessed that Ravenclaw was the most likely house for her to be placed in as she was so smart and studious. Hufflepuff too, would make more sense as she was so hard-working. Clearly by today's act, he could even see that she might belong in Griffindor for the brave. However, the only Slytherin he saw in her was perhaps her determination.

A determination that deeply chilled him. What if Samara was so determined that she could get anything that she wanted? Did he trust himself to be strong enough to pull away from her if she made it absolutely impossible? Was his fear love enough to allow himself to push her away if that was what needed to be done? Or, would the old adage that love conquers all be proven true?

**TBC…**

**A/N: **Severus will be learning a lesson! Woot! Well, I hope that everyone liked this chapter. Please Review!**  
**


	24. Dungeon Detention

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 24: Dungeon Detention**_

Severus had hoped that the detentions he'd issued that he'd managed to separate the girls, he'd particularly wanted to push Samara on another Professor. However, he didn't want it to seem like he was giving Samara preferential treatment by giving her detention with another teacher, and he didn't particularly want to hand her off to Filch who would undoubtedly force her to do something far worse than he. Therefore, he had all three girls in the dungeon.

He'd purposefully had assigned their detention on a Hogsmead weekend, so that they couldn't get into further trouble while visiting the village. As the next Hogsmead trip had been at the end of May, the girls were now, standing in his classroom, all working with rather disgusting ingredients. Samara didn't seem to care too much and was doing so without paying much mind to the other two girls, who were glaring over at her as they squeamishly and grudgingly bottled rat-brains or pulverizing worms.

For the past several weeks since the incident, most of the Slytherins seemed to be shunning Samara. Even Timothy, though Severus guessed that was because he was afraid of what would happen to him if he tried to talk to her. Though, he noticed that the boy did try when no one was looking. It bothered him infinitely how Samara was still kind to him, the coward.

Samara didn't seem to greatly mind being shunned by her House mates. Not that she'd ever really gotten along well with the people from her House. Besides the six Slytherins she called her _friends_, whom she didn't seem greatly fond of in the first place, Samara hadn't ever talked very often with the people from her Slytherin. Occasionally she would help one with their homework or assignment, but he didn't think that she had any friends in her house.

But Samara wasn't completely alone and alienated. Lately, he'd seen Samara talking to more students from her year that were in other houses, particularly the Hufflepuffs who'd heard what she had done for Tonks and admired her for it. Apparently everyone was quite fond of Tonks. Not coincidentally, she'd been spending quite sometime with the younger witch. He'd seen the two together in more than one occasion, though not for very long.

Severus turned away from Samara and looked over at the other two students in the class, who were grimacing as they continued to jar everything. He smirked at this and turned his attention back to his grading. Lately he'd been giving more essays than ordinarily, but that had a lot to do with the fact that finals were approaching soon as June came closer.

He didn't want to really think about it, because he knew that once Finals were over, so was the school year and he would not be able to see Samara again for three more months until next September. He was worried about what this summer might have in store for her and hoped that it was better than the last. However, what pained him most as knowing that he would be unable to see her. That for three months his heart would miss her beautiful hazel eyes, which he noticed was slightly greener than brownish. He would miss her smiles, which brightened his day and overall he didn't think that life would be worth living without her presence in it.

It was painful to think of it, and he had to shake himself of the thought and continuously tell himself sternly that he would have to forget about her sooner or later. Or, what would he do a year from now when she was preparing to leave Hogwarts forever? It was something he tried desperately to not think of and get away from, but once more the rational and more dominating side of him forced him to think of it always.

It told him that he needed to forget about her, that he needed to stop thinking about her and worrying about her. That he had to stop looking at her, and craving her presence. That he needed to pull away from her and let her go on, and that he too had to go on, no matter how much he missed her and ached for her. It told him that forgetting about her, pulling away earlier was the only way that he'd be able to survive.

"Professor Snape, it's lunch time already, can we go now?" Marietta suddenly said, breaking through his concentration. Severus looked up from the paper he was supposed to be grading, but instead had been thinking of Samara who stood about ten feet away at a table where she was disemboweling frogs and sticking their insides in jars. Each girl was sitting alone at their own table with their own disgusting task. Samara and Marietta were at the very front of the class, and Jessica was two tables behind Marietta.

He'd decided to place Jessica and Marietta on the same side of the room to keep them farther away from Samara and so that they were not surrounding her. While he hadn't wanted Samara directly before his desk, he didn't have much of a choice as it would have seemed strange if he'd stuck her at the back of the class to keep her far away from him. However, it made the several-hours-long detention a littler hard, as he was having such difficulty keeping his eyes from straying to her.

Samara didn't look up from what she was doing. She hadn't looked up the entire detention. The look in her eyes was completely unfocused, like her mind was somewhere else and not here in this detention. She worked like a little bee, completely task orientated and ignoring everything around her, shutting it all out. He'd seen Samara like this before. If she could focus on something long enough without interruption, she could eventually shut out everything.

Severus sat back and looked at the three girls. Jessica had turned her deep blue eyes, and was looking up hopefully at her head of house, just as Marietta. Samara on the other hand, seemed to have heard nothing. He thought of it for a moment, bringing his hands together and holding them apart with his long fingertips for a moment, reminding the two Slytherin sixth years that were staring of an evil villain. They both grimaced as they were sure that Snape was probably considering whether they had suffered enough.

"I suppose three hours of bottling ingredients is enough; Cleanup the mess you've made and you're dismissed," Severus said coldly, turning away from them and turning to his grading. Immediately, as he tried to concentrate on the essay, he heard the girls scuffling to hurry up cleaning and leave. He was vaguely aware of when they placed the full jars on his desk. He sighed in relief when he heard them leave and shut the door behind themselves, however, when he looked up all relief escaped him.

He'd thought that all the noise would have broken through Samara's concentration and that she had left with the other girls; however, she was still standing there behind her desk, disemboweling what was left of the toads. She didn't seem to have noticed anything that was going on around her and she seemed to be mindlessly going on about her task. Severus suddenly felt a certain familiarity creeping up on him when he realized that he would have to shake her to make her… leave.

Grimacing, he stood up and walked over to the girl and lightly tapped her shoulder. Samara blinked a couple of times as she looked over at her Head of House. "I said detention was over," Severus said as he looked down at her. Samara looked around the room and noticed that she and Severus were alone in the room and blushed lightly.

"I'm sorry, must've got lost in my thoughts," she said as she reached up her hand to push one of the ever present strands of hair in her face away from her eyes. Severus narrowed his eyes as he reached out to her hand and brought up to his inspection, noticing a small slit in her finger from were blood was pouring from. He raised a brow as he looked at her.

Samara's eyes had turned wide at his touch; however, upon noticing the cut on her finger she furrowed her brows. "It must've happened when I shook you," Severus said, not daring to look up at her and staring at her finger. He pulled out a black handkerchief from his pocket and removed the blood from the thin digit, holding her hand gently within his own. For a moment he wondered, why did their hands have to fit so well together?

"Yes, I hardly noticed. I suppose I was too shocked that you touched me," Severus looked up and his black eyes clashed with the amazingly round, hazel eyes of Samara. She smiled to see the way his face had gone so pale with the statement. "This is the first time you've touched me since I've told you what I felt about you. Not that you ever touched me very much before hand. I suppose you never wanted to, to be able to control your desire for human contact."

Severus gritted his teeth. "Do not psycho analyze me, Samara," Severus stated as he pulled his handkerchief away and looked down at her finger. It had stopped bleeding now.

"I'm sorry, Professor Snape. I didn't mean to _patronize _you," she replied. Severus once more looked up at her, but could see that she was smiling at him, her eyes teasing him as they had on so many other occasions. For a second, he'd almost thought that was resentment finally rearing his head in her. "Thank you," Samara said when he dropped her hand and she inspected her finger herself.

"For making you cut yourself?" Severus stated sarcastically. Samara looked up at him and smiled.

"Well I meant for stopping the blood flow, but I suppose that I should thank you for that as well. I've missed your touch," she said gently. Severus suddenly felt his heart racing, as he watched Samara look down at her feet.

He decided to ignore the statement like she hadn't said it, however his insides felt all jittery. The thought that she missed his touch, even though at the most all he had ever done was shake her shoulder to wake her up or reached out to her to help her, made his insides feel fuzzy and warm. Like a child's Christmas come early. "You're dismissed Samara, you are free to leave."

"I don't want to, but my stomach is about to growl embarrassingly, so I suppose I've better get going," Samara said with a gentle smile as she looked at him. "Bye Professor Snape," she said as she bounced away and out of his classroom. His heart sunk to see the door close behind her and wondered how much it was going to hurt to see her leave his life forever.

**TBC…**

**A/N: **Hope you liked the chapter. Please Review!


	25. Sunsets

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 25: Sunset**_

Severus stepped out of the Forbidden Forrest and furrowed his brow as he spotted Samara Green lying on the ground. Her school robes were hanging on a branch of a tree nearby. The white button up shirt, and skirt she wore appeared damp, as did her hair. The setting sun's lays washed over her pale skin, her legs, arms, neck, and face making them glow warmly. Her arms were resting on her stomach; her face was tilted slightly to the left, her lose hair lightly falling across her sleeping eyes.

He wondered for a moment if the fates were against him. He was purposefully trying to miss the end of term feast so that he wouldn't have to see Samara, so his heart wouldn't ache to know that he wouldn't see her for three months, and here she was. Lying on the side of the lake, opposite of the castle where she just happened to come across her sleeping form. Honestly, he wondered if this was just punishment for his stupidity when he was younger and for all the harm he'd caused as a Death Eater. Clearly he had not redeemed himself enough by turning spy.

Slowly, Severus approached the sleeping girl, knowing full well that he wouldn't be able to wake her with his approach. If Samara was particularly exhausted, he knew that she was capable of sleeping like a rock. The only time that she rose at the slightest bit of sound, was when she was restless, just as she had been through the entirety of her pregnancy. A time that he was sure she didn't really want to remember and never mentioned anymore, though it had altered her.

Bending down, Severus stared down at her face before deciding to wake her. She looked so peaceful in her sleep, and for a moment he was chilled by how dead she looked. He furrowed his brow as he wondered why she wasn't moving at all, or made no sound. He couldn't hear her breathing and her chest didn't seem to heave. Slowly he reached out his hand and placed his index and middle finger to the artery in her neck and felt the beat of her heart softly against his fingertips.

Relieved, he was about to pull way from her when she felt slender digits close gently around his wrist, yet holding him quite firmly. He stared for a moment at Samara, who otherwise still appeared to be asleep, her head still tilted to the left and her eyes closed. "What made you think I'm dead, Professor Snape?" Samara asked softly, a smile spreading over her face as she kept her eyes closed.

"How did you know it was me?" he asked as he stared at her. Samara opened her eyes slowly and looked up at him, her eyes glittering green as they caught the suns light. His hearts pace quickened at the sight of her marvelous eyes, sparkling up at him like the lake, when it caught the light of the sun.

"Because only your touch makes my pulse quicken," she replied in a whisper. Severus turned to look at his hands, and indeed since she'd taken hold of his wrist the beat of her heart seemed to have accelerated beneath his fingertips.

Severus pulled his hand away and tried to ignore what she had just said. Though, once more he felt light and jittery inside. "What are you doing out here, you are missing the feast," he said as he looked down at her. Samara slowly sat up and stared across the lake, running her hands through her hair to see if it had dried. When her fingers caught lightly in the tresses of her hair, she surmised that it was still damp.

"I went for a swim, I suppose I got tired and the Giant squid helped me get out on this other side. I lay down to rest and I must've fallen asleep," she said, shrugging her thin shoulders. Severus raised a brow at this, staring at her as he felt the vein in his temple begin to pulse. She had fallen asleep so close to the outskirts of the Forbidden Forrest?

"That was very, very stupid of you. You could have gotten hurt, or worse killed," Severus said through gritted teeth as he glared at her. Samara looked over at him, but merely shrugged once more as she looked at him, causing him to get angrier by the second. He didn't understand how she could care so very little about her life and not protect her own existence to the best of her abilities.

"You know very well I'm not stupid Professor Snape, I cast a protection ward before lying down to rest. I cast it in case I fell asleep," Samara said as she looked over at her Professor. Severus felt himself pale as he stared at her, however, she as smiling at him. "You need to lighten up Professor Snape."

Severus turned away from her and stood up. "You should return to the castle," he said sternly. Samara shook her head at this, like she had on many other occasions. He glared down at her, feeling somewhat frustrated.

"I'm not breaking any rules by being out here Professor Snape and I'd like to stay here a little longer," Samara said softly as she stared across the lake. She had propped up her legs slightly and the skirt that she was wearing was riding up her leg. Severus turned away from the sight and looked across the lake.

"Once more that was not a request Samara," Severus stated sternly as he glared at the lake. Samara slowly turned around and looked at her Head of House. She could have just challenged him, told him that there was nothing that he could do to make her do it. That unless he wanted to forcibly remove her, which she would quite enjoy, that she wasn't about to move. However, she didn't feel like antagonizing him.

"Please Professor Snape, it's my last night at Hogwarts before I have to go home and… I'm going to have to face him," Samara said, looking up pleadingly. Severus stared down at her eyes and could see the sadness in them. He'd almost forgotten that her father had once more moved into her mother's life and that the woman was pregnant.

"I don't want you out here alone," he said as he stared down at her. She smiled brightly at him.

"Pull up a seat," she suggested lightly and teasingly. Severus sighed in exasperation as he plopped down next to her and stared out at the lake along with her. For a long time, they both sat in silence, staring out at the lake. Each one was lost in their own thoughts and sitting in companionable silence with the other and despite being lost in their thoughts, very aware of the other's presence next to them.

Together, they both sat and watched the twinkling water and the slow progress of the sun beyond the trees. Vaguely aware as they watched it slowly disappearing and the sky turning from blue, to bright yellowish-orange with a few tints of red as the sky nearest to the castle was darkening, turning nearly purple and dark blue.

At last, when the sun had nearly completely disappeared beyond the horizon, Samara turned to the man that she so loved. "Professor Snape," she said tentatively, bringing him out of his reverie. Very slowly, Severus turned his dark gaze to look at Samara's pale face. "Do the Professors leave tomorrow?"

Severus turned to look at her and wondered why she was asking. He merely nodded at this as he stared at her. "Most leave after the students," he responded as he stared at her. She merely nodded at this. She hadn't ever seen very many teachers when they were leaving and the only person she'd ever seen at Hogsmead station was Hagrid. She turned around and looked at the lake, supposing that this would be goodbye for now then.

Slowly, Samara stood up and headed towards her robes and put them on. They were fully dry, which wasn't surprising as they were all black. "I wanted to return this to you," Samara said as she turned around and looked at Professor Snape. Severus furrowed his brow as she walked back over to where he was, in her school robes, which she hadn't bothered to close and kneeled before him, holding a black bundle in her arm.

Severus took the bundle when she handed it over and soon realized that he was holding one of his own cloaks. He looked up at her questioningly. "I forgot to return it to you when you lent it to me; I forgot that I was wearing it when I got back to Slytherin. I've been meaning to return it to you, but I always forgot, and when I was packing today I found it," she said to his unasked question; he remembered back to the day she'd invited him to the Italian restaurant in Hogsmead. She then smiled sheepishly as she stared down at the cloak. "Truth be told, I wanted to keep it when I found it, to have something to hold onto this summer, to make it not feel so terrible, but I thought that I should return it."

Samara then leaned in and placed a kiss on his cheek, completely shocking the Potions Master. Samara pulled away and smiled at him, her cheeks a light shade of pink. "Have a nice summer Professor," she said politely as she stood up and turned to leave. Severus sat in stunned silence as he watched her heading back towards the castle and when at long last she'd faded from sight, he reached up a hand to his cheek, where his skin was still tingling where she had placed her kiss.

Severus felt his heart tearing, despite how good the feel of her lips felt against his skin. This was about to be a very _long_ and painful summer.

**TBC…**

**A/N: **Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I hope that you all like this chapter and please Review as well!**  
**


	26. Visiting Ghosts

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 26: Visiting Ghosts**_

Severus made his way slowly down the street, staring down at his black pants and black, button up, long sleeved shirt. As much as he hated to admit this, he found muggle clothing slightly more comfortable than wearing robes. At least they were more practical when it came to movement. However, he wasn't wearing muggle clothing because he didn't mind them but because he was walking down a muggle street.

The first weeks of July were murder. He'd spent most of his days trying to read to get Samara out of his thoughts, but found that every night before he fell asleep he was flipping to page 125 of the book that Samara had given him, watching the tale of Beauty and Beast unfold before his eyes and his heart aching for Samara. Truly, it was a miserable summer so far and he thought perhaps the better way to push Samara from his mind was to remind himself of Lily Evans, his childhood love.

Which brought him back to the reason that he now found himself walking through the same old streets; which were eerily unchanged in the past twenty or so years, completely untouched by the war of the Wizarding World, completely unaware that one of the children that had grown up in this very neighborhood had been murdered. It was strange to think that he was once a child in this very neighborhood as well, before getting caught on the wrong side of a war, all because of his hate towards his father had been projected to a hate towards all muggles.

He came to a stop as he neared the park, reminded of his mother's weakness and of whom that reminded him of, Samara. She too had a weak mother and a monster of a muggle father just as he had. This summer, she had to return to that home, and who knew what was happening to her there, or what king of hell she was going through. He remembered how at her very age, he had left him home. For years he'd been saving up money for the moment that he turned of age to move out. However, he guessed that Samara had never planned for such a thing, she probably hadn't expected her father to return, at least not so soon. He wondered how she was.

He shook his head of the thoughts. He'd been trying hard all summer to not think of what was happening in her home life, because there was nothing that he could do about it. There was no way that he could help her and dwelling on these thoughts which only tortured him with worry and filled him with rage was completely useless. Not that he could think of any way to stop himself from thinking or worrying about Samara. He was still unsure it this current project would work at all.

Steadily, he picked up his pace once more and continued to head back to the park. He was trying to resurrect an old pain inside him, a ghost really, to forget about the vivacious Samara Green. Though he was unsure whether or not he could really say that she was vivacious as she seemed to cease to be so after she returned for her sixth year. She'd gone through a lot of changes in one year and while he could only continue to love her more and more, she had changed, grown.

Severus shook his head of this as he reached the park and cast a brief look around. It was very empty, but he guessed it was because it was so early in the morning and he thought that no child would wake up and walk to the park; at least, not at seven o'clock in the morning on a Tuesday. After casting a brief look around the park, he turned his gaze towards the swings.

He furrowed his brow to see a teenager sitting on the swing, hardly swinging in it. For a long moment he gazed at the thin youth with lose black hair that completely covered her face from view. She wore what he assumed was a black spaghetti strap shirt with a pair of ripped blue jeans and black sneakers. The girl was lazily swinging and he could see that she had left a dark green satchel on the ground near the pole near her.

Stepping beneath the shadow of a tree and leaning against it, he watched the unsuspecting teenager whom occupied Lily's favorite swing. Her favorite, he remembered, because she always picked the same swing. It was her swing and if he closed his eyes, he could still see the young red-head swinging on it, something that she continued to do even through her teenage years. She never stopped coming to this park while she was at home from Hogwarts and he knew because even when he moved out from with his parents after he turned of age, he still came back to this park and found her. In her teenage years, she came in the night, and Severus assumed it was to get away from the pain that she felt from her estrangement with her sister, which only because worse over the years.

Opening his eyes, Severus looked over at the teenage girl that was sitting on the swing. She was seated crooked so that her right foot touched the ground, but the left did not. She was using the tip of her right foot to push herself lightly, while resting her head against the chain, which she held with both her hands. For one wild moment, Severus was reminded of Samara, though she always had her hair held up, as thought she couldn't stand to have it lose.

Trying to keep his mind from wandering to Samara, he gazed at the girl more intently. There were rips at the knees of her jeans and judging by the frilly edges of the holes it was from long use. The hem of her pant legs as well were frayed and seemed much longer than her legs were, despite otherwise fitting her well. He supposed that when she walked, the pant legs reached the floor and had torn from the concrete.

Her sneakers, which seemed to be made out of canvas and rubber, seemed old. The white of the shoes, such as the tips, laces and the circle around the five pointed blue star was completely dirty and the black canvas material was fading. For a moment, Severus wondered what was wrong with the youth of these days who made it a fashion statement to wear ripped clothing and canvas sneakers they were calling Chucks. It made absolutely no sense to him. Even at Hogwarts it seemed that these particular shoes were overly popular.

Shaking himself of these thoughts, he watched as the figure slowly raised her head. Severus furrowed his brow for a moment and realized that she had been asleep, which told him one thing, this child was either a runaway, or homeless. He guessed by the satchel on the ground, that the first was more likely. He wondered if she had fallen asleep there.

Slowly the girl rose from the swing and shutting her eyes tight and yawning she turned her head back and stretched, her arms reaching towards the sky as she bent her body back. For a moment, Severus could have sworn that it was Samara, or that the girl looked immensely like her, however, he was unsure as the girl was now turned away from him as she stretched. His mind felt momentarily boggled by the fact that she could bend her body so far backwards; it almost seemed that her head might just touch the floor.

When she straightened up, Severus momentarily felt shock rolling into him as he saw Samara's face. He shook himself of this and shut his eyes tight as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He _had_ to be seeing things. However, when he opened his eyes and looked over at the girl, who after rubbing the sleep from her eyes, he found that she still looked like Samara, he had to finally admit that he wasn't dreaming or loosing his mind. "Samara?" he called out questioningly just to make sure as he walked out towards her.

Samara slowly turned and looked towards the man that was walking towards her. It took her a moment to get over the muggle clothing and realize that it was Professor Snape that was calling out to her. Immediately, she felt blood rushing to her face, though despite her embarrassment of having been found sleeping on a swing, she couldn't help but notice how he looked. She smiled brightly to see that while robes did nothing to hide his broad shoulders and slim form, that they didn't define his well shaped muscles body very well.

"What are you doing here, Professor Snape?" Samara asked, smiling at him.

"Why were you sleeping here?" he asked, completely disregarding her question.

"My dad kicked me out of the house a couple of days ago, he said if I was of age in my world than I was old enough to look after myself, he gave me a bit of muggle cash he had on himself before sending me out of the door, unfortunately he didn't have much," Samara said a little darkly as she glared at a point over his head. "I only agreed because I've been fighting with him constantly and it's not doing my mum any good, especially no in her condition. I would have liked to stay and protect her, but he seems to be very eager for his son, so I suppose he won't harm her."

"That doesn't explain why you are here," he said as he stared at her, frowning. What had she been doing then?

"Well I'm conserving most of the money for food and since I don't eat much I'm doing fine so far," she said lightly with a smile to reassure him and not make her situation sound any more pitiful and bad than it was. However, as she saw the way that he was looking down at her, she guessed she was doing a bad job of it. "Umm… I've been making my way to London, but I can't use the Knight Bus because I have no Wizarding money and I can't Apparate because I haven't gotten my license yet, which is why I've been making my way to London, my test is coming up."

"So you were planning to walk all the way to London?" Severus asked incredulously as he looked down at her. He didn't bother to ask her why she didn't fly, he guessed if she hadn't it was because she didn't have a broom. "Where have you been staying, at random parks along the way?" Severus asked, his voice rising once more. He still couldn't believe how careless she was being with her own life. "Couldn't you contact any of your friends? Ask to stay with one of them?"

"You seem to be forgetting I don't have friends and I don't have an owl to use," Samara pointed out lightly. She then shrugged. "It isn't that bad. I walk all day and when I get tired I usually find an abandoned building, vacant apartment or something to stay in. But there didn't seem to be any in this neighborhood and I was exhausted."

Severus stared down at Samara for a long moment, incredulous about how she was taking this so lightly. "And what were you planning to do when you ran out of food?" he asked as he stared down at her. She raised a brow as she looked at him.

"Resort to drastic measures, though, I'd really hate it," she replied with a shrug. "It wouldn't be too hard to steal from muggles and I'm pretty good at driving."

"You know how to drive?" Severus asked, momentarily distracted. Samara looked away at this, her face darkening.

"Someone taught me last summer," she replied simply. Severus stared at her for a moment and understood who she must mean by _someone_. He guessed that whoever it was, had to be the same man who had broken her heart the previous summer. It had to be the lowlife whom had left her broken-hearted, pregnant and alone after having abused her.

"When is your Apparation test?" Severus asked as he stared at her, wondering what he was going to do with her, because he was sure as hell not going to allow her to continue to wander around so vulnerable. He had to thank some god in heaven for finding her, he didn't know what he would do if anything had happened to her.

"July 29 at noon, my mum was going to take me, despite being pregnant. She said it was a big deal," she replied with a smile as she looked up at him. He couldn't believe that she wasn't at all angry with her mother for having allowed this to happen to her and without having at least something to give to her daughter so that she wasn't so ill-prepared in the world.

"Do you have any Wizarding money at all, at Gringotts?" Severus asked as he looked down at her. Samara merely shook her head and he felt all the more frustrated as his list of options of how to aid her seemed to be growing slimmer. "What were you going to do after your Apparation test then?"

Samara shrugged her thin shoulders. "Solicit a job in London near the Leaky Cauldron, preferably in Diagon Alley or Knockturn Alley because then I wouldn't have to waste money in converting it to Wizarding money to pay to stay in the Leaky Cauldron," she replied as she looked up at him.

"What were you going to do if that didn't happen?"

"I don't know! I didn't ask to be thrown out of my house with no options with what to do with my life! I didn't ask for that man to come back into our lives and I didn't have a say in any of it," she said angrily as she stared up at him, getting tired of all the questions like everything that was happening was her fault. Samara sighed heavily and looked down at her feet, scratching her neck after her outburst. "Look Professor Snape, I didn't ask for any of this and I'm only trying to deal with it to the best of my abilities. I have no money, no friends… nothing, okay. All I have are my studies and… that isn't much right now."

Severus felt pity rising in him as he looked down at her. "Have you eaten anything?" he suddenly asked as he stared down at her, guessing that he was being too hard on her, it really wasn't her fault. Samara looked up at him and was momentarily off-balanced with the unexpected question.

"Umm… I eat a sandwich once a day, usually at noon," she said as she looked up at him. Severus pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment, thinking that he just better stop asking her questions as this only seemed to get worse and worse and infuriating him more and more. He guessed it was because her health was being severely compromised and that was not something that he was at all happy about.

"All right, we are going to feed you and I'm going to contact Professor Dumbledore and see what I should do with you," he said, opening his eyes and reaching into his pocket for his wand, extending an arm to her. Samara smiled at him in slight amusement for a moment. She then turned away from him, picked up her satchel before walking back and taking his arm, allowing him to apparate them to wherever he was planning to take her, not really caring to ask.

**TBC…**

**A/N:** I couldn't let Snape suffer _all _summer! Though, perhaps I'll torture him another way. Well anyway, hope you all liked this chapter and I'll update again soon. Please leave a Review!


	27. Spinner's End

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 27: Spinner's End**_

Severus opened the door of his… home, and waved for Samara to walk in, which she did after a small moment. Severus stepped in behind her and closed the door, noting the way that Samara was eyeing the way that every wall was covered in books, not at all taking much notice at the modest furniture in the room. Severus had never particularly cared for anything other than books, which was all he liked to waste money on other than ingredients, and therefore it was plainly obvious in the small sitting room of his… home. He was hesitant with the word as the only place he'd ever really considered home was Hogwarts.

Walking across the room, Severus pointed his wand to a wall which soon opened and he lead the way to the kitchen and motioned for Samara to follow. It seemed a moment before he was followed into the kitchen. "If you are wondering, this is were I stay during the summer," Severus said curtly as he turned around to face her.

"I guessed as much," she replied with a smile as she looked around the kitchen. There wasn't a table in the small room. There was a stove, fridge and counter. "Do you eat standing up Professor?" Samara suddenly asked as she turned to look at him, Severus raised a brow at this. Of all the observations she could have made and this was the one that she chose?

"I'm not much of a cook, it's not like I eat meals," Severus responded curtly. Samara smiled as she fully turned to look at him, her eyes brightening.

"A Potions Master not knowing how to cook? How is that possible? You can follow directions to make a potion, but you can't follow recipes to make a meal?" she teased as she looked over at him. Severus gritted his teeth, though he assumed that was quite a paradox and a highly amusing one. However, he wasn't about to admit to such an absurdity.

"I didn't say I didn't know how, simply said I wasn't much of a cook. I'd rather not waste my time cooking," he said as he looked over at her. Samara merely nodded at this, however, the way her eyes were still teasing him told him that she didn't believe him one bit. Severus sighed in mild exasperation. "Well you can make yourself something if you find anything, look around and I'm sure you'll find what you need to make yourself something more decent than a sandwich, meanwhile, I'll be right back."

Samara merely nodded at this in response, allowing him to turn around and leave. He pointed his wand to the wall behind his armchair and watched it open, before heading towards the stairs. He made sure that the bookcase swung close behind him as he made his way up the narrow staircase, before heading into a narrow hallway with three doors. The one to his immediate right was a guest room, the one to the immediate left was a bathroom. However, he ignored both of these and headed to the one at the end of the small hall.

His bedchamber was not very indicative of what he was like. Other than the wardrobe, a desk and four-poster bed and a small nightstand, there wasn't any other furniture in the room or anything else that might decorate the room. Severus however, paid no real mind to anything as he walked straight to the fireplace. He pulled out his wand and waved it at his fireplace, which while being connected to the Floo Network, was only allowed to send and would only receive him.

Severus grabbed a bit of Floo Powder from a jar and tossed into the fire before kneeling down before it and sticking his head inside. "Dumbledore's Office," he said clearly. Before long he found himself staring into Dumbledore's office. "Professor Dumbledore?" he called out into the room, hoping that the old man was in.

"Severus, what a pleasant surprise," he heard Dumbledore say after a moment before stepping into Severus' line of vision. "Come in," the man said brightly. Severus nodded before stepping out of the fire and dusting himself off. He really hated to travel by Floo. He'd really much rather preferred apparating. He'd never been particularly fond of flying, made him a bit uneasy to be so high in the air.

"Professor Dumbledore, I ran into Samara Green today and it seems that she's been kicked out of her home with no money and no place to stay," Severus said as he gazed into the Headmaster's eyes, not wanting to delay this any longer than necessary. Dumbledore suddenly frowned and nodded at this, before turning away and sitting down behind his desk. "She's been sleeping in parks, abandoned buildings and vacant apartments from what she has said and is living on a sandwich a day."

"I see, where is Samara?" Dumbledore asked as he looked over at Severus. His eyes were clouded with worry and Severus guessed that it was because the man was fond of Samara as most teachers at Hogwarts were.

"My kitchen," Severus responded curtly. Dumbledore didn't seem to much care about that as he merely nodded and folded his hands together. Dumbledore must've surmised as much as he guessed that Severus could have only come from his home.

"I presume she has no friends to stay with?" Severus merely shook his head in response to this. "Would you mind Severus, keeping Samara with you for a few days. At least until I have located Aurora. Aurora has always been quite fond of Samara and I'm sure that she will take in the girl for the rest of the summer."

"Locate Aurora? Can't Miss Green stay in the castle in the meantime?" Severus asked, mildly horrified at the thought of having Samara stay with him. If she stayed with him, it would be impossible to ignore his attraction to her, especially while having her in such close proximity to him. She would drive him out of his mind.

Dumbledore looked at Severus apprehensively. He wondered if he was asking too much of the anti-social and somewhat-misanthropist Professor to put up with a teenager for a few days. "I am afraid not. I hardly believe that I would be able to keep an eye on Samara alone in the castle," Dumbledore replied. "And Aurora is a little hard to find over the summer. She likes to travel the world, you see. I have no idea where she is or where I might find her."

"Is there anyone else or anything else you can do Professor?" Severus asked.

"Afraid not, Hogwarts money only helps with buying school supplies and as Samara is of age there isn't an obligation to do anything at all and can't even place her in a muggle orphanage as she has parents," Dumbledore rationalized softly. Severus stared at the man in resignation. There was no way he'd want Samara in an orphanage.

"How long will it take you to find Aurora?" Severus asked through gritted teeth as he looked over at Dumbledore. The headmaster merely smiled at him.

"Shouldn't take long," Dumbledore replied, with an amused smile at the Potions Master's frustrated expression. Severus nodded at this.

"Please contact me as soon as you have," Severus said heading back over to fire and taking a fistful of Floor Powder.

"Of course Severus," the man replied before Severus found himself stepping back into his bedroom. Severus sighed as he brushed the powder off himself and groaned, while running a hand over his face. How was he going to be capable of dealing with having the woman that he loved under his own roof, even if it was only for a couple of days? He wasn't Jesus Christ here to be able to resist such temptation, no matter how much he knew that she deserved better.

Severus sighed once more and headed out his bedroom, closing the door behind himself and heading down the narrow staircase. He supposed that he had to tell Samara this, as he pushed open the bookcase and closed it behind himself. In a few quick strides he was across the room and walking into his small kitchen where Samara was setting two plates full of pancakes on a small table of four that had not been there before.

Samara slowly turned around when she heard him approach. Severus immediately noted that she had tied up her hair into a sloppy bun and that she had set the table with single glass of milk, utensils and that there was syrup on the table. He looked around the kitchen and noted that everything seemed to be just as he had left it before, except for the apparition of food, which actually smelled quite delicious. He wondered how she'd managed this so quickly.

"I figured you hadn't eaten anything either," Samara said with a light smile on her face. "Hope you like pancakes. I transfigured some of my old books into a table and chairs so we can eat."

He nodded in response, still feeling awkward at the moment. It was very strange, to be with Samara in an environment that didn't enforce him as her Professor and she as his student. Even when they had gone to eat on their birthday it wasn't like this, because at least then they were somewhat in public and near the school enough to be reminded of their roles. However, that was hardly the case at the moment. She was in his home, far away from Hogwarts and she had made them breakfast.

"I was unaware I had milk, pancake batter and syrup," he said as he stared at her. Samara merely smiled at him and motioned for him to sit. Severus merely nodded and sat down on the chair she had transfigured, which felt sturdier than his armchair, which he found quite amusing.

"You don't. I bought the stuff two nights ago when I was staying in an vacant apartment, I had the rest of it with me," she said, pointing to her satchel. "It has my whole world," she said with a smile. Severus nodded at this as he could imagine it did. When he'd left his home he'd stuffed everything that he had into his trunk. He had to shrink and put feather light charms on many things to get them into the trunk. He guessed that everything she had placed into the bag was as well. "Tea?"

"Yes, please," he muttered, though he really needed something stronger. Samara merely smiled as she poured him in a cup before walking back to the table and setting it before him before sitting down. She seemed that she wasn't going to ask him about what happened while he'd gone somewhere, as she merely poured a lot of syrup on her pancakes and picked up her knife and fork to start slicing up the stack to eat.

Severus sipped from his tea for a moment before setting it down and looking over at her. "Professor Dumbledore says that you are to stay here until he locates Professor Sinistra and see if she will take you for the rest of the summer," Severus said very concisely. Samara finished what she was chewing, took a sip or mild and rested her wrists at the edge of the table, keeping the utensils in each of her hands off the table.

"Locates?" she asked, slightly confused.

"Apparently she travels around the world and is impossible to find during the summer," Severus replied irritably as he started to eat. Samara merely smiled and nodded. This was going to be an interesting summer, whether Professor Sinistra was found or not.

**TBC…**

**A/N: **Well that's all for now folks. Please leave a review!**  
**


	28. Seeing Red Polka Dots

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 28: Seeing Red Polka Dots**_

"Professor Snape," Severus came to a stop and slowly turned to look into the guest room, where Samara was sitting Indian style on the large four-poster bed with a large book in her lap. She was wearing a flannel pajama bottoms in different shades of green, with a spaghetti-strapped black shirt. Her long black hair was loose and looked far different from when he'd seen it earlier. Earlier, her hair looked slightly wavy, though right now it seemed impossibly straight.

He wondered for a moment as he stared at her why she left the door open and why she'd been sitting in bed facing the doorway. Had she been waiting for him to walk by? "Yes?" He asked as he looked into the room he'd shown her after breakfast that was designated to be hers while she was there.

Since then he could see that she had taken out her trunk and placed it at the foot of her bed, but other than that she hadn't changed anything else. However, something caught his attention at the foot of the bed. There seemed to a… he supposed it was a thin blanket which was a light shade of blue and had some kind of yellow pattern on it that he really couldn't define as the blanket was folded up.

"Well…I suppose you don't have much to eat because you don't cook, but… since I might be here a couple of days I was wondering if… well since I'm here I can actually cook _real _meals," Samara said tentatively as she looked at her Head of House. Severus stared at her for a moment, blinking several times at her strange request. However, as he thought of their lunch that day, which had ironically been sandwiches, and their dinner, which had been nothing more than soup, he supposed that they should probably buy real food.

"Well… there is a muggle food mart not very far from here," Severus said as he looked over at her. Samara smiled as she looked over at him and nodded. Severus nodded once and was about to turn to leave when he stopped and looked over at her. "Why does your hair look like that?" he suddenly asked as he stared at her. Samara looked up, rather surprised from her book and stared at her hair, wondering if something was wrong with it. "I just mean, it's much straighter than I've ever seen it."

"Oh," Samara said as she suddenly understood what he meant and looked over at him. "My hair is naturally this straight, but usually I put it up in a bun, or ponytail or something and it gets wavy because it's held so long in one way. After I showered this morning I didn't put it up."

Severus nodded, recalling that after he'd shown her the room she'd been staying in that she'd immediately asked for the bathroom so that she could take a shower. Severus had merely pointed to the room across the hall from her. When he'd seen her later on for lunch, her hair had appeared damp, but she didn't put it up, instead she had merely pulled it back into a clip to keep it from her face. However, as always the elusive strands of short hair framed her face. Though they seemed to disappear when her hair was lose.

"I see," Severus said as he looked over at her. "Well I suppose we'll leave tomorrow morning," he said. Samara once more nodded as he turned around to leave.

"Good night Professor Snape," she called out after him. Severus turned around and looked over at her, to see that she was smiling over at him. Severus merely nodded in turn before finally walking away and into his bedroom, closing the door behind himself.

---

Severus awoke the following morning at nine and after dressing quickly made his way out into the hall. This was the second day in a row that he had to wear muggle clothing. He usually preferred not to wear the clothing all that too often, most especially not around students as he hardly considered it appropriate for witches and wizards, at least not in public. However, he'd told Samara that they would go to a muggle food mart. Severus shivered at the thought. _He_ was going _grocery shopping_ with one of his _students_. It would have been something straight out of a nightmare, but at least he didn't hate Samara. Though he was sure being in love with her was just as difficult, more so actually.

Severus sighed as he made his way past Samara's bedroom and could see that she had left the door wide-open but was not currently inside the room. He wondered why a teenager would leave their door open, he thought they were all about privacy. Than again he was sure most adults were as well. Slowly he turned his gaze around to the bathroom, but soon realized that it was unoccupied. He furrowed his brow, wondering if she'd already gotten up. Was Samara an early bird?

He was about to walk by and head to the stairs when something caught his attention and he turned to look into her room. The blanket he'd noticed the night before was now bundled at the foot of the bed, whatever the yellow blotches on the blanket were were still a complete mystery to him. He furrowed his brow as he made a move to go into the room, however, paused, wondering if this was at all appropriate. However, as he reasoned that this was him home and that there was nothing wrong with just looking at her blanket he allowed his curiosity to get the better of him.

Walking softly and in quickly, he reached the foot of the bed and picked up the blanket. A smile graced his lips when he noted that it was so much more than just yellow splotches. There were little yellow ducks with small orange beaks, spaced out evenly throughout the blanket, each one in different positions from another. Beneath each yellow duck there was lighter shade of blue, to give one the illusion that the duck was floating on water and near to each duck were a few white bubbles. He wondered how long Samara had this blanket.

Placing the blanket back to where it was before he'd grabbed it, he turned around and left the room. He slowly made his way down the narrow staircase and pushed the bookcase open and closing it behind himself, before crossing over to the kitchen. He wasn't too surprised to see that Samara was placing a small plate at the table. He could see that she had buttered a piece of toast and planned to eat it with milk. However, what did surprise him was how stunning she looked.

She was wearing a white skirt that reached down to her knees and had red polka dots. She had on a red, cotton t-shirt, that fit her quite smugly with a somewhat low neckline. Her hair, was once more lose, however she had it tied out of her face with a white ribbon and strangely enough she was wearing red heels. Severus blinked several times as he looked at her, noticing slowly the silver necklace that she wore around her neck with curvy, silver pendent of a snake that started from her collarbone and ended just above the neckline of her shirt, resting against her pale skin. He noticed that she was also wearing silver hoop earrings.

Samara looked up from the table and looked over at Snape and smiled at him. "Good morning Professor Snape," she said as she smiled at him. Severus continued to stare at her with furrowed brows and merely nodded towards her, unable to find his voice. With the shoes, she was several inches taller. He guessed that if he stood next to her that she would probably reached up to his nose. He wondered if she could actually walk in those things. "Would you like some toast?" she asked as she looked over at him. Severus merely shook his head. "Are you okay Professor Snape?"

"Yes, I'm fine," he finally said when he noted the look of concern that was slipping over her face. "I'm just going to have some coffee," he said turning away from her and heading over to the cupboards. He vaguely hear her say 'all right' before he heard her take her seat and lightly bite into her toast. Severus glared as he he made his coffee, wondering why in heaven's name did she have to look so gorgeously delicious.

---

"Professor Snape, what kinds of fruits do you like?" Samara asked as she started to look at the selection of apples. Severus turned to look at the older woman across from where Samara stood giving him a strange look. Severus gritted his teeth together as he stepped closer to Samara. They'd been at the mart for over half an hour and he felt very frustrated. He hated to go Grocery shopping. He thought this was the kind of thing woman should do alone, but usually took their husband along to torture him, or do the heavy lifting. Though he supposed it was just as well, the basket he had in his arms was wearing _him_ out and he would've hated for Samara to carry it, although, she had insisted on it.

"Samara, how about, just for now you don't refer to me as Professor Snape so that people won't look at us strangely," Severus said in a low voice as he cast a look around to see that no one was watching. The old woman had moved away from them by now. Samara turned to look at her Professor and raised a brow, but the twinkle in her eyes was impossible not to notice.

"Shall I call you by your first name then?" she asked as she looked at him. Severus merely nodded as he frowned. There went their last barrier, he groaned to himself. Samara didn't seem to pay him much mind as she turned away from him. "All right, but you haven't answered my question. What would you like?"

"Honestly, I don't care so long as we can leave soon," he replied as he looked down at her. Samara laughed lightly at this. When she was much younger she'd always hated to go grocery shopping as well, but once her mother had started to teach her how to cook, she found that she was very interested in the process of picking out food.

"Come on, Profess… I mean Severus. It isn't that bad. It's hardly any different than buying a book or shopping for ingredients," Samara said as she looked over at him and smiled. Severus felt his heart begin to pound in his chest as he looked down into her eyes. Why did his name have to sound so great when it came from her mouth, which was quite enticing. "You know, you have such a great name. Severus. I love it," Samara stated as she looked away and picked out an apple or two.

"Thanks," Severus said awkwardly as she dropped the small bag of apples into the basket along with everything else they were getting. She got a crate of eggs, a few stakes, noodles, tomatoes and a couple of other things that Severus had not been paying attention to. It was hard to, considering who was doing the picking to focus on anything other than her. She looked particularly radiant and for once seemed to be older than she actually was. Usually she looked much younger than she was, and rarely did she look her age.

Samara merely smiled at him and walked away, leaving him to walk along beside him. "My mum said she named me after my grandmother, I don't know what she was like though. She died before I was born," Samara said as they made their way towards the cash registers. Severus merely nodded at this

"Samara, why aren't you angry with your mother?" Severus suddenly asked, the question had been bugging him for ages, ever since she'd first told him about her life at home. Samara looked up suddenly, surprised by his question. However, before she could answer the question she was suddenly accosted by a very zealous young salesman who was selling some type of pots or knives or something. Samara turned away from Severus and tried to smile at the salesman.

"Umm… no thank you," she said as she tried to turn away from him.

"Can I have your number?" Samara turned around and stared at the man blankly. Severus gritted his teeth at this. Where did this guy, with his snazzy little suit, combed back black hair get the nerve to hit on Samara with him standing right there. Sure he wasn't actually with Samara in that sense and she was his student, however, wouldn't someone assume that they were a couple if they were GROCERY SHOPPING TOGETHER? All right, considering how strange they would look together, he assumed not, however the man could have at least had to decency to ask her while he wasn't there.

Severus turned his gaze away from glaring at the man before looking at Samara, who was frowning and had just brought her hands behind her back. "I don't think my husband would appreciate that," she stated, however, Severus completely missed this as he furrowed his brow and watched her switch the silver band that she was wearing on her right index finger and place it on her left ring finger.

"Your husband?" Severus heard the guy ask, causing Severus to turn to look at him and could see that he was staring at him. Severus glared down at the guy, who went very pale as he gazed up at Severus who was actually much taller than he was. Severus was vaguely reminded of when he was intimidating a student, however, this felt strangely more fulfilling. He guessed it had something to do with the fact that the guy thought that he had just hit on his wife.

The salesman turned to look at Samara, who at that moment strategically pushed the strand of hair on the left side of her face away, reaching up with her left hand, causing the silver band on her ring finger to catch the stores light. The guy paled more so to see that she wasn't lying and quickly started to mutter an apology. "I'm sorry, I didn't think that you were together, you don't seem very… together."

"My husband isn't the affectionate type, its fine," Samara said, trying to smile at him in a friendly way. "Come along Sev," Samara said as she took Severus by the arm and lead him away. Severus turned to look at her after a long moment and once they were out of earshot asked her why she'd told him that he was her husband. "I find most men back off when they realize that a girl is married. A single little band on the right finger, does wonders. It's magic all of its own," Samara said with a smile. "Besides, you need a wife. You clearly cannot feed yourself." Severus turned away from her, feeling a blush slowly creeping onto his face.

---

"Well this should last several days," Severus muttered after shrinking and stuffing the groceries into his pant pockets, as he followed behind Samara as she made her way towards the back of the Knight Bus. He was amazed by her sense of balance. Even in heels, she could walk through the Knight Bus with swaying only the bare minimum as the bus whirred at top speeds through the streets. It was something _he _could hardly manage, he didn't know how she could wearing _heels _that were about three or four inches high.

"I wonder how long it will take Professor Dumbledore to find Professor Sinistra," Samara said as she picked out a seat and Severus sat down opposite of her, thankful for a seat, no matter how unstable it was. Severus looked over at Samara's face and could see a twinkle in her gaze which reminded him of the look Dumbledore had given him. It was like the two held some private joke that Severus didn't know about. For a moment, he cursed his inability to socialize, perhaps if he'd bothered to speak more to Aurora he would understand something that Samara and Dumbledore seemed to know.

Severus didn't make a reply to her statement as he turned to look out the window. It was very hard not to stare at her and it was something he was constantly aware of as they'd made their way through the grocery store and even on the Knight Bus. Samara was beautiful enough without dressing up; now she was making heads turn everywhere she walked and it bothered him. However, he was more bothered by the fact that he was having such a hard time keeping his gaze from wandering to her. It did that enough as it was and it infuriated him to see that Samara was enjoying this.

Having lost himself in his thoughts as he started to glare out at the window at the fast passing and blurred scenery he forgot to keep a steady hold of his seat. One moment he was seated and the next there was a rather high bump, Severus guessed that they'd hit a speed bump, which sent him into the air, out of his seat and crashing down on he knees. Severus shut his eyes in pain as his knees met the hard floor. He'd been only vaguely aware of red polka dots before his sight moving as something on either side suddenly held him in place at the ribs. Severus placed his hand on this to steady himself and have something to hold onto as the bus continued to move very quickly, he was only mildly aware of whatever was on either side of him, which reminded him of armrests, were rather soft yet first at the same time.

"Are you all right Professor," Samara whispered worriedly, not wanting anyone to hear her referring to him as Professor, lest they get the wrong idea as to what they were doing together. Severus opened his eyes and felt all color fading his face to find that her face was very close to him. There was a very light blush on her cheeks and as she was bending her face forward, black hair was framing each side of her face.

Severus forced himself to look away from her intense hazel eyes and looked down. His eyes widened as he realized that his torso was between her parted legs and that her knees were what were holding him in place. A number of dirty thoughts and different reasons for him to be between her legs flashed through his mind as he stared at the white fabric of her skirt, which had been pushed up a little to receive him between her legs. The polka dots were obscured due to the skirt having been pushed up to mid-thigh and making him aware of the pale skin that showed lightly beneath the fabric.

Immediately, he jumped away from Samara and back into his seat as he realized that he'd rested his hands on her thighs. "Yes, I'm fine Samara," he said as he looked over at her apologetically, slightly horrified with himself for having placed his hands on her. It was a moment before the damn red polka dots left his eye sight as he'd been staring at the skirts pattern and it had been burned into his eyesight.

Samara looked over at him and smiled lightly, turning away from him and looking out the window, blushing profusely and looking somewhat crestfallen. Severus watched Samara intently as she closed her legs and adjusted her skirt. He guessed that she'd opened them as an instinct to keep him from impaling his stomach with her knees and had clamped them around his torso out of instinct to keep him from falling over, he had to admit that she had very quick reflexes. However, he felt immensely lecherous to have had such lascivious thoughts and for having taken advantage of her by placing his hands on her, even if it was just an accident.

"I'm sorry Samara," Severus muttered as he looked down at his feet. He wasn't good with apologizing and in general he didn't, even when he knew he had done something wrong or said something rude. It hurt his pride immensely to apologize for anything. Therefore, he rarely, if ever, apologized and only to someone he loved more than anything else.Which at the moment was limited to only one person and she was sitting before him.

"For what? It's not your fault you fell," Severus looked up to see that Samara was staring at him with slight confusion on her features. Severus blushed to see that she hadn't thought anything much about the fact that he'd placed his hands on her person. He turned around to look out the window and was thankful that his hair, curtained his profile from view as he was sure that he was blushing profusely.

"I meant about putting my hands on you," he mumbled.

"Oh, that's okay, I know you didn't do it because you wanted to," Samara smiled over at him. Severus looked over at her and watched her turn to look out the window as she mumbled something beneath her breath. It sounded to him vaguely like, _though I wouldn't have minded if you had. _He merely nodded in response and turned to look out the window, decidedly pretending he didn't hear what she had mumbled. He prayed that Dumbledore would find Aurora soon.

**TBC...**

**A/n: **All right, sorry for taking all day to update, but I went out and had to return to this later. Anyway, please leave a review. I thoroughly enjoyed writing this chapter. LOL.**  
**


	29. Stairway To Heaven

**Disclaimer: **Everyone's going to have to forgive me for placing some of today's music (not really today's some is from the seventies, some from the nineties) back into the timeline of this story, but I just don't like 80s music all that much. Sorry. Also, songs do not belong to me. I'm not a musician, maybe an artist when I feel like drawing, but I'm so not good with music. My brain isn't wired for notes.

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 29: Stairway To Heaven**_

The following day, Severus paused as he stood outside of Samara's room and looked towards the door, which for the first time since she was there, which was three days thus far, was closed. Though he was sure she must close it at night when she went to sleep. However, during the day he'd never seen it closed. He stared at the door for a long moment and could swear that she'd placed _muffliato _on the room as well as he was quite sure that her room was far too quiet. Furrowing his brow, he wondered what she was doing and why all of a sudden she'd decided that she'd wanted privacy after all. It was strange, but after breakfast she'd spent the whole day so far in her room with the door closed and wondered if she was all right.

The previous day, Samara had spent it reading in the living room, it was hard to notice she was hardly in the house at all as he'd spent most of the day reading in the room with her. She was very quiet and hardly looked up at all from her book. Severus wondered how it was that she could concentrate so well. He was having a hard time himself, but he guessed that was simply because she was in the room with him. The only breaks they took from reading was to eat.

Just before meal times she usually scurried into the kitchen to make food, and he had to admit that her idea about buying food was pretty good. Now they were eating real food and Severus could hardly remember very many occasions in which he'd eaten half so well while outside of Hogwarts and he never enjoyed Hogwarts meals half as much as he did Samara's. He guessed that had a lot to do with the fact that he knew that Samara went through some trouble to make food and he couldn't help but notice it was really just for him as Samara didn't eat very much.

However, he was getting off point. He was trying to look through the previous day to see if something was wrong with Samara or a reason as to why so far today she'd spent the whole day in her room. After she'd made breakfast that morning, she'd excused herself and ran up the stairs. Severus had assumed that she'd gone to her room, but he wasn't sure. She reappeared shortly before lunch and afterwards it was a repeat of that morning. She excused herself and ran up the stairs. Though, he noticed that her appetite had been a bit abnormal during lunch. She seemed to need more than usual and he had to wonder if it had been solely because she'd skipped breakfast.

Severus stared at her door and wondered what on earth she was doing. However, as he turned to walk away, the door opened and he felt Samara bump into him as she'd been rushing out of the room. Severus turned around and saw the surprised look spreading over Samara's face as she looked up at him but smiled. His gaze slowly wandered from her to her room, where there was an odd metallic box-looking thing on top of her trunk. He didn't pay it much mind as he immediately looked down into Samara's eyes.

"Hello Professor Snape," she said in greeting to him. Severus raised a brow; he didn't know why she said hello to him whenever she saw him. They were practically living together, it wasn't necessary for her to say hello to him every time she saw him, which really was only during mealtimes, strangely enough. It would've infuriated him or in the least vexed him greatly every time she did so, if he didn't find it so damn cute of her.

"Have you cast _Muffliato?_" Severus asked after a moment.

"Yes, sorry about that I just supposed that the music would disturb you," Samara replied as she looked up into his eyes with an apologetic smile.

"Music?" Severus asked as he stared down at her. Samara smiled as she turned around and motioned for him to follow her. Severus hesitantly followed her into the room and watched her as she headed towards the box-shaped thing with buttons and pressed down. Immediately he heard some very loud music assaulting his ears and furrowed his brow, wondering how this could be called music.

All Severus was all too sure was that he constantly heard someone saying 'Now testify', in a shouting kind of way accompanied with what he assumed was a guitar, drums and bass. He turned to look at Samara who was staring at him with a smile on her face as the song steadily came to an end. "The band is called Rage Against the Machine and the song is called Testify," Samara said while shrugging her shoulders.

"You call _that _music?" Severus asked as he stared at her, hardly noticing that another song had started to play as it was a low guitar with perhaps some light flute playing for about a minute or so. Samara merely crossed her arms over her chest and he noticed that she was wearing a grey t-shirt that had an emblem of some sort on it with the word Aerosmith, written across in a funky font.

"What do you listen to than?" she asked as she looked over at him, smiling as she teased him, amused that he was criticizing her music. In the background, neither one paid much mind to the soft singing of a male voice.

"I don't listen to music," he replied as he looked over at her. It was mainly true. He hated wizarding music and he'd never really bothered to listen to muggle music of any kind. At the most, all he'd ever really heard was classical music, which he actually kind of liked as he found it somewhat soothing. Though he guessed it was a stigma of youth to listen to music that either angered older generations or scared them.

"How is that possible?" Samara asked, dropping her arms and looking at him confused. She didn't know anyone that didn't listen to music. Even Professor Dumbledore was known to listen to music. She'd once shown him a song by the Lemon Pipers called 'Green Tambourine' and he seemed to like the song very much. She smiled at the memory of Dumbledore swaying his head to the music as he closed his eyes, she couldn't stop giggling to herself at the time, which was during her first year.

Severus shrugged his thin shoulders in response. "I've never bothered to waste my time with it," he replied as he looked at her. She raised a brow at this. Still neither one noticed how the song that was still playing was steadily escalating as the guitar playing became slightly louder and more pronounced.

"It's not a waste of time. You can listen to music while you read, or cook or clean or do anything. Although, men aren't known for their multi-tasking skills so never mind," she replied as she looked over at him, smiling. Severus glared over at her, despite the fact that he knew that she was only teasing him. However, he didn't say anything and wondered why not. Why did he always allow her to get away with that?

_Yes there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run there's still time to change the road you're on._ "What is this?" Severus suddenly asked as he caught the lyrics and realized that they were still listening to her music.

"Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin," she responded simply as he continued to listen to it. Strangely enough, he didn't mind this song. There was singing in it, but he supposed it was much more understandable then what they were previously listening to. However, what really got to him was the way they combined the rhythm of the drums so harmoniously with the soothing sound of the guitars melody.

Together, they both listened in silence as the song continued, paying careful attention to the lyrics and music as they interwove with each other so perfectly and came to it's slow mournful end, in a way that was almost painful with it's beauty. "That was much better," Severus commented as he looked over at her. Samara smiled a she looked over at him. However, before she could say anything another song started, one that did not seem to fit in at all with the previous songs at all and that wasn't only because it was a woman singing.

_I will not make, the same mistakes that you did. I will not let myself, cause my heart so much misery. I will not break the way you did, you fell so hard. I learned the hard way, not to let it go that far,_ it was a girl that he noted had a pretty strong voice and was accompanied by only a piano, at first. Severus turned to look at Samara and could see that she was staring at the box, as if somewhat surprised by the song, like she hadn't expected it to come up.

_Because of you I never strayed too far from the sidewalk, because of you I learned to play on the safe-side so that I don't get hurt, because of you I find it hard to trust not only me but everyone around me, Because of you I am afraid,_ Severus turned to look at Samara, who was speaking at the same time as he guessed was the chorus. "I don't really know why I keep this song, it's not really my kind of music," she said with a shrug as she looked at him.

_I lose my way, and it's not too long before you point it out. I cannot cry, because I know that's weakness in your eyes. I'm forced to fake a smile, a laugh, everyday of my life. My heart can't possibly break when it wasn't even whole to start with, _Samara made a move to stop the music, but Severus stopped her hand as the chorus started up again and causing Samara to turn to look up at him. He stared down into her hazel eyes as they stared up at him in mild surprise but with a small amount of pain.

It seemed to him, that with every passing moment that there was a little more to the song and why Samara liked it than she liked to let on. For some reason or other, it felt like the girl who sang in the song, was actually talking about Samara, or rather what she never dared to say about her mother or about herself either. _I watched you die, I heard you cry every night in your sleep. I was so young, you should have known better than to lean on me. You never thought of anyone else, you just saw your pain. And now I cry in the middle of the night for the same damn thing. _

"Samara?" Severus said softly as he stared down into her eyes and saw them filling with tears as she shook her head as if she knew what he was thinking.

"_She_ tried her best. She tried to protect me from the tears and all the blood and pain, she never wanted me to see or know about it, she even used _muffliato_," Samara said as she brought her fist to her eyes and tried to rub out the tears. Severus reached out and grabbed her wrists and slowly pulled her hands away from her face, causing her to look up at him pleadingly, like as if she were asking him to drop it, to let her hold onto the only thing that allowed her to keep smiling.

Severus stared down into her eyes. "But she didn't always remember to use it, did she?" he asked as he looked down at her. The tears spilled over and she looked down at her feet as she shook her head a bit, while the chorus continued on behind their conversation.

"Not when _he_ was around. When she couldn't drag him off to the bedroom, and seal the noise inside. I couldn't do anything to help her those times, and he … I was never enough for him. He never wanted me, he always disapproved and when I was younger and he made me cry he would laugh and say I was weak," she said as she stared at her feet, her voice soft to keep the pain out of it. He supposed that she related the second verse of the song to her father, whom was the first man to walk out of her life and break her heart.

Reaching out, Severus pulled Samara into a hug and she wrapped her arms around his middle as she buried her face in his shoulder. He couldn't hear her crying, but he could feel the tears begin to soak through his robes and feel the damp cloth on his skin and he knew that she was shaking with the pain that she felt and carried with her for years. _Because of you I try my hardest just to forget everything. Because of you I don't know how to let anyone else in. Because of you I'm ashamed of my life because its empty. Because of you I am Afraid. Because of you._

Severus wondered if that bit at the end was true as the music died down. Did Samara feel that her life was empty? Severus thought about it and thought how she really didn't have anything and back to what she'd said when she told him that she didn't have anyone. He guessed that it was sort of true, but now that he thought about it he had to say that it was because Samara didn't really want anyone in her life. She hadn't tried very hard to make friends in her seven years at Hogwarts and she definitely did not try to retain the friends that she did have. Had Samara purposefully alienated herself from the world because she didn't want to get hurt?

However, he wondered how that could be true when she was one of the sweetest and friendliest of people he had ever met. _Which gives her a good cover_, a voice in his head chimed in. _After all, who's going to suspect a seemingly well-adjusted, happy-looking kid of having trust issues?_ And he had to say that this was very true, considering that he didn't think anyone really knew anything about her family. Except perhaps Dumbledore, for he hadn't seemed too surprised to hear that she'd been kicked out of her house.

But Dumbledore didn't count, as the man knew everything about everything as it was. Severus guessed that he was the only person that Samara had willingly offered up this information to. He didn't think that she'd ever told anyone else about her mother and her abusive father and the first time she'd told him about her family, she'd downplayed her mother's weakness, and her father's treatment of her.

However, he supposed that was so that he wouldn't be worried as much about her and so that he wouldn't feel any pity for her. He'd done the same thing with Lily, he'd told her that all his parents ever did was fight verbally and that his father hated everything. He'd never told her that his father was a violent brute that had hated him more than anything else that ever existed and the reason he'd omitted those _fine details_ was because he didn't want to taint her life. He'd never wanted to make her feel anymore pity for him than she already did and guessed that Samara was merely doing the same thing with him.

He sighed, feeling his heart heavy as he stroked Samara's head. He supposed that Samara was very good at hiding all the pain that she had to carry all her life within her. As he held onto her, unable to say anything and burying his face in her soft hair, he wondered if smiling at the world made her life feel easier to her and less empty than it was. "Professor Snape, I'm sorry," Samara said as she pulled away and wiped the tears from her eyes and looked up at him and smiled bashfully.

"Samara, am I the only one you've ever told any of this to?" he asked as he stared at her. Samara merely nodded in response to this. He stared at her in mild confusion, his brows knitted together. "Why?" he asked as he stared at her, wanting to understand this. She smiled at this as she continued to try and wipe away the tears from her face.

"I don't have any real friends to trust, I can't tell any of the other Professors without feeling that they wouldn't understand or… become too worried, or pity me too much. I suppose I just… actually feel that I can trust you and feel that you… understand me," Samara said tentatively as she shrugged and looked down at her feet. Severus merely nodded at this as he stared down at her.

"My father was a lot like yours," Severus said as he pulled away and sat down on the edge of her bed. He didn't know why he was telling her this, he knew that he really shouldn't because she was still his student, but he felt hat if she trusted him enough to tell him things that she couldn't tell anyone else, then he should extend to her the same courtesy. Besides, he knew that anything that he'd tell her would not go beyond this moment. He looked up at her to see that she was gazing at him intently. "He was a muggle as well and unfortunately, _he _was always around, but he treated me and my mother like we were garbage too."

"Was your mum a witch?" Samara asked as she sat down almost timidly next to him. Severus glared down at his feet at this and nodded.

"A pureblood, nonetheless. She was absolutely weak, even to try and protect me," Severus said as he looked over at Samara. Samara's mouth twitched for a moment as she looked down at her lap and as he watched her for a moment, he understood why she didn't hate her mum.

"That's why I don't blame her," Samara said. Severus stared at her intently. "She honestly did try to protect me, the only thing she could never do was turn him away. I suppose it was because she loved him so much, so much more than she could love herself. But it scared me a little, to see that you could love someone so much that you could allow yourself to live with such pain for it or become so weak and stupid because of it. I've never given anyone my heart before, I've never trusted anyone with it. I don't even trust myself with it, seeing the pain I've allowed inflicted on myself for such fickle things."

"What do you mean _before_?" Severus suddenly asked. Samara turned to look at him and smiled.

"You know I've given it to you already, that night you looked into Erised," she replied as she looked into his eyes. Severus gulped whatever was stuck in his throat and stared into her in confusion. Samara smiled as she looked at him. "You're wondering why, aren't you? Well you have never hurt me; you've always watched and protected me like no one in my life has ever before. Trust me when I say my heart is much safer with you than it is with me. Its numb while with me and all I ever do is mutilate it to feel something."

Severus stared at her for a long moment. He wanted to tell her that she was wrong in giving him her heart, that he was only going to break it somehow, no matter how much he didn't want to. However, she seemed to see what he was thinking and merely raised a finger to his lips and shook her head. "Don't say it. I know what you would say, but I don't care to hear it," Samara said softly as she looked at him. "You have to take the bad with the good too," she said, smiling up into his eyes.

He didn't know if it was because they were sitting so close together on her bed, or because his mind had gone horribly blank and all he heard was the music the kid was singing in the background, _You're mine, your lips belong to me, yes they belong to me, for eternity…_ but for some reason he had the urge to place a kiss on her lips. Every other thought escaped him and the voice in his head telling him that he was going to regret it later was muffled, like Severus was suffocating it by placing a pillow over it. Thus, he silenced any objections that his mind came up with as he leaned in and placed a kiss on her wonderfully soft lips.

Gently he ran his lips over hers, relishing in the feel of how gentle and delicate her lips felt and how they made his blood rush and heart to beat faster than he imagined possible. Gently, he cupped her face in his hand as he moved his mouth against hers, glad that she was responding to him in much the same way. She too seemed to be savoring every slow passing second as they sensually moved their lips against each other, feeling that this had to be a dream and it wouldn't be long before they were woken from it.

And of course, neither one of them was wrong. Almost as soon as the song that had inspired him to make his move was over, they jumped apart in freight as the next song came on. Samara cursed in her head the day that she'd decided to keep BYOB by System of a Down, which happened to have a jolting start if you didn't know it was coming on and was on high volume. She stared into his flushed face and she was sure that hers was just as flushed and paid no mind to it. However, she felt the smile that had graced her heart as well as her face slipping away as she watched the change come over his face and watched him as he stood up.

Samara sighed unhappily as she looked down at her lap and held out her hand to stop him from speaking just as he was about to say something. "Don't worry about it Professor Snape. I suppose we can pretend this didn't happen either," she said as she smiled up at him, even though her heart was crying out. Severus looked at her gratefully and nodded as he headed towards the door. "Professor Snape," she called out after him, causing him to turn around. "But you will be mine," she said as she smiled over at him, with a determination in her strengthening her voice that scared the hell out of him. She didn't state it as though it was a promise, but more like a fact. Severus merely turned around and walked out without saying anything as he closed the door behind himself with a snap. When the hell was Dumbledore going to find Aurora?

**TBC…**

**A/N: **Well hope that everyone liked this chapter. Please leave a review! Oh yeah and the last song, the one that inspired the kiss was Richy Valens' "We Belong Together".**  
**


	30. The Request

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 30: The Request**_

"Professor Snape," Severus looked up from the book he was reading and watched Samara as she walked over to the couch he was sitting at and sat down, crossing her legs Indian style as she watched him. Severus narrowed his eyes at her and wondered what she wanted. Frankly, it wasn't that she'd interrupted his reading, but the fact that she was in her pajamas, that made him feel irate and a bit uncomfortable.

Last nights dinner had been a bit awkward for him because of the kiss, however, he'd tried his best to ignore it and pretend that it had never happened. It was something that was quite hard to do considering how it was all that he could think about and had kept him awake half the night. He just couldn't stop thinking about how nice her mouth felt and how good he felt to know that she was responding. He desired it for so long and for it to have happened again, seemed a miracle to him, despite knowing how she felt about him.

Shaking his head of these thoughts, he looked over at Samara expectantly, wondering if she was going to tell him what was on her mind and why she had come to see him. However she seemed to have gotten lost in one of her thoughts as she stared at him. Severus raised a brow at this, but soon saw her shake her head and look over at him. "Sorry… um I wanted to ask you if it was at all possible for me to see my mum… so that she could at least know that I'm all right."

Severus stared at Samara blankly for a moment. "Meaning I would have to take you?" Severus stated slowly as he stared at her. Samara grimaced slightly as she looked down at her hands, which she had folded in her lap and was currently messing around with her pajama bottoms. He watched her intently; she had her hair braided into two braids, each braid starting just beneath her earlobe and tied with small green ribbons at the ends.

"I bet you're wishing you hadn't found me huh?" Samara said as she looked over at him and smiled lightly. Her voice was light and teasing, but something in her eyes was shining at him with sadness, hoping that it was really just a joke.

"No," he responded, a little too quickly. Samara stared up at him, her eyes brightening as she stared into his eyes and Severus inwardly cursed himself for having responding so quickly. "I'm not saying I'm happy with the current situation, but I'd prefer to be… I prefer to have found you than for anything to have happened to you," he said, repairing what he was about to say and changing it to something else. He'd been about to say he'd prefer to be tempted and tortured constantly by her presence than have anything happen to her, but he was admitting enough as it was and didn't want to make it worse.

Samara inched forward and rested on her knees, sitting slightly closer to him than she was before and staring at him with more intensity than before. "Why do you resist me so much if you love me?" Samara suddenly asked as she looked into his eyes, her demeanor much softer than before. Severus turned his face away, however, she reached out and gently held onto his chin, forcing him to turn and look into her eyes. "If you're worried about hurting me, don't. In love everyone gets hurt, but you live through it because your love is so much stronger than that."

"Samara, you are my student," Severus said as he grabbed her hand and pulled it away from him, setting it down and releasing it. He stared into her eyes, which seemed to become alight with fire as she looked into his eyes in mild confusion. "I am ten years older than you are, and there is a side of me that I never want you to see."

"Your snarky nastiness? I've seen that already and why let such trivial matters like age and the fact that I'm your student get in the way if what you feel is love," Samara said as she looked into his eyes. "It's not like I'm a child, I've come of age almost a year ago and you know very well that I am not naïve."

Severus pinched the bridge of his nose and stood up, sighing in mild exasperating. He'd closed the book in his hands and let it drop heavily on the rickety table, before turning around to look at her. "There are things about me that you don't know and that I would never want you to know. I haven't shown you everything there is to me, Samara, and you are better off that way," Severus said as he stared at her. He couldn't tell her he was a murderer; that inside him there had been someone who once thrived on the pain of others.

"I would still love you," Samara said softly as she looked into his eyes, her own shining with all the sincerity the world could hold. It melted his heart and made him believe her when she said those words. It made him want to forget everything and just give into her, but there was another reason, one that he would never tell her about why he couldn't be with her. It was that he was scared to love her; just as she was scared of what love could do to someone by just having seen it, he was scared because of personal experience.

_You will be mine_, the words were running like a threat in his mind since she'd spoken them and they frightened him. What he felt for her was strong, and if she got her way, what would he do when it fell apart or something went wrong? Would he lose all will to live? Unknowingly, it was like her promise to him was really a threat on his life, because Severus knew that something good could not last, and being with Samara would be beyond good. It would be beyond heaven to him and therefore would not be able to last.

Staring into her eyes, which gazed at him with so much love, he felt himself caving in. He walked over to her and did the unthinkable, guessing that there was only one way to get her to back off. Falling to his knees before her, he took her hands in his and placed his forehead on them, completely shocking Samara who was still kneeling on the couch. "Samara, if you love me than please stop torturing me," he pleaded softly as he looked up into her eyes. It was hard for him to swallow his pride and beg, to show her such a weakness, but he felt that it was absolutely necessary.

He was well aware of the look of shock over Samara's face as she sharply in-took air. Tears filled up in her eyes as she stared at him, and Severus immediately knew that he'd requested it in the most perfect way that she could not deny. She swallowed something caught in her throat as she searched his eyes, sitting in a position that he could only assume was awkward, and frowning. Behind her eyes he could see that the wheels of her head were turning, and that she was caught between some turmoil within her, trying to decide what to do.

At long last she pulled her hands from beneath his and turned away from him. "I won't bring it up anymore or make references to how I feel anymore, but you can't ask me to stop being who I am," Samara said in resignation as she stood up and hopped over the couch, having forgotten her previous request and heading up the stairs. "Goodnight, Professor," she said as she disappeared up the stairs and he heard the soft click of her bedroom door being closed.

Severus ran a hand through his hair as he continued to sit on his heels and stared down at his knees. He didn't know if he'd done the right thing, he felt that he'd hurt her more than he'd meant to, but he knew that it was for the best. His stomach churned with guilt at the thought that he had used her love for him against her to make her do something that he'd wanted her to do, but he told himself he really had done the right thing, even if it didn't seem that way at the moment.

**TBC…**

**A/N: **Sorry for the short chapter, maybe I'll update again later today to make up for it, but I hope that everyone liked it. Please Review!**  
**


	31. Loss Of Control

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 31: Loss Of Control**_

Samara spent most of the following day in her room and only came out before meal times to make something to eat. While they ate together she was her usual, smiley self and was the same with him as she always was. However, he supposed that she was trying to abide by his request by being in his presence only when necessary as the day after that she spent most of her time exploring the neighborhood. Once more, the only times he really saw he throughout the day were during mealtimes.

It was strange, but this didn't make Severus feel any better. He supposed that she was only trying to help him as much as possible by making him put up with her the least amount of time possible. However, it didn't really help as he knew that she was there with him, even if she wasn't actually there. It actually unsettled him more to know that she was nearby, but to have no idea as to what she was actually doing. He tried to shake this feeling off, telling himself that this was just paranoia getting the better of him.

Getting up from where he'd been sitting, he decided that he should probably get some fresh air. He told himself that he was spending far too much time inside and was going insane because of it. However, as he stepped outside, he caught sight of Samara sitting down by the on the edge of the sidewalk. She had her knees drawn up to her and was hugging them as she stared down at the gravel. Severus narrowed his eyes at the back of her head.

He didn't understand the clothes that she was wearing today, which were kind of black leggings that ended about mid calf with a long green shirt that fell to about mid-thigh. She was wearing a pair of black gym-shoes, not her usual canvas shoes and had a black belt wrapped around her thin waist. He saw her in a lot of muggle clothes a lot more than ever before and Severus guessed that Samara spent more time in the muggle world than in the wizarding world as she seemed to have a lot of muggle clothes.

Today she had her hair lose, unlike the previous days that she'd had it tied up in a high and tight pony-tail. Severus really couldn't decide how he liked her hair best. While she looked beautiful with her long silky hair lose, when she had it tied back he could see a lot more of her beautiful face. Not to mention that she looked so damn cute when she had her hair in pig-tails, and there was something sexy about seeing her wearing a sloppy bun. It absolutely drove him mad either way.

Severus looked down at himself, and tried to take his mind off of Samara and looked at what he was wearing. Ever since his fifth year, he'd taken to wearing muggle pants and shirts beneath his robes, always black; it stemmed from that unpleasant incident in his fifth year when he'd lost Lily. Therefore, when he stepped out, all he really needed to do was remove his robes so that he could pass off for a muggle.

Sighing, Severus walked over to where Samara was seated on the ground, causing her to look up at him and smile. "Hello Professor Snape," she said brightly as she looked up at him. As far as he knew, Samara always had her wand somewhere on her person; however, he never knew where she kept it, especially when she wore muggle clothing that had no pockets. It made him wonder.

The first time he'd really taken notice of Samara's wand was at some point at the end of her second year. Her wand resembled his wand a lot, in the fact that it was an ebony wand that seemed to be about the same length. However, there was a streak on the length of her wand that was a dark shade of green that wound its way in no particular pattern on her wand. It was very strange, considering that when it caught the light, it seemed to sparkle like the scales of a fish. Once when he'd asked her what that was, she's shrugged and said that Mr. Ollivander had told her that her wand had been made of an Ebony tree that was already like that, and that her wand was all that was left of that tree. All the other wands he'd tried to make with that tree had failed miserably due to the combinations that caused them to explode. Apparently, the tree would not combine with anything but the hairs of a very special spider.

"Do you still wish to go see your mother?" Severus asked as he stared down at her. Samara tilted her head for a moment, looking up at him questioningly before she nodded her head. Severus sighed, he didn't really know why he was doing this, but he supposed that if he wanted to stop feeling paranoid, that this was a good excuse to have to be around her. Maybe by spending more time with her then he had the past two days, he would be able to figure out what was wrong with him. "Come along then," Severus said as he raised his wand into the air.

---

The neighborhood that Samara grew up in seemed relatively peaceful. It didn't take them too long to reach her neighborhood on the Knight Bus, but Severus could see that it was a great distance from her neighborhood to his and he wondered how long she'd been walking when he'd found her.

He pushed the thought aside as he followed Samara down the street and wondered what house she lived in. He cast a sidelong glance at Samara, who was starting to tie up her hair in a very tight bun, not her usual rushed and casually, sloppy bun. There was a somewhat apprehensive look on her face as she walked along beside him, her eyes narrowing in on a specific spot. Severus followed her gaze and found a house looming closer to them with every step and guessed that this was where she had grown up in.

Severus raised a brow, while watching the house get closer. It looked like a typical family home. It was one story and looked almost cute in how small it was. The house was not level with the ground, and there was a small porch out in the front. Severus could only imagine how many times Samara must have found herself sitting out on the light blue steps of her house, watching the rest of the neighborhood, which, judging by the amount of children running around she'd felt left out in.

Somehow he doubted that what went on inside her home allowed her to feel that she belonged with any of the happy children of her neighborhood at the time. Judging by the way that some of the women, who were gathered across the street form her house were looking at her, she'd never been accepted by the mothers. Severus glared over at the three women who were staring at Samara with dirty looks, instead of watching their children, who were playing on the sidewalk before them with what looked like marbles.

"Don't mind them Professor, they despise anything that threatens their perfect suburban fantasy of what life is," Samara said somewhat bitterly, turning away and making her way up the walkway, causing Severus to look over at her. He hadn't even realized that he'd stopped in front of her house. Severus watched Samara reach the front steps and started to make her way up, not bothering to hold onto the wooden banisters. Severus cast a glance at the three women, who were much older than he was, before turning around and following Samara.

He supposed that as, for the most part, Samara had grown up without a father, she'd been ostracized by the whole neighborhood because of it Severus looked over at the seventeen year old girl that was now knocking on the door. Severus guessed that she had a key to the house, and even if she didn't she could have gotten in with the use of her wand, but was knocking only out of courtesy. A courtesy that if it were him, he would not have extended to the people who had kicked him out of the house. But this was Samara, not him, of course she would try to be polite.

They weren't standing there for too long before the white door opened up and there was a man standing in the doorway. For a moment, he glared down at Samara before casting a sneering glance to the man that was with his daughter. Severus watched Samara's father intently, glaring into the man's black eyes. Like Samara, the man had the same black hair; however, it was becoming tainted with small hairs here and there that were silver. Severus guessed, as he stared at the man that he was in about his mid-thirties.

"What are you doing here, Samara?" the man asked as he looked back to his daughter. His voice was very deep, and there was a somewhat raspy quality to it that Severus didn't much like and found annoying. He hated it when someone had a raspy voice. He tried his best to ignore it and watched the man. The man's hair was very short, he was of a good build and Severus guessed that they were both the same height. As he studied his face, he couldn't see any trace of Samara in it and he guessed that she had to look a lot more like her mother.

"I came to see mum," she responded as she looked up at her father.

"She's asleep, but I'll tell her that you stopped by," her father replied as he made a move to step back inside and close the door. But before either him or Severus could react, Samara had disappeared beyond her father and was making her way down the length of the corridor behind him, which was quite long and had doorways on either side of the hall. Severus looked over at Samara's father and saw his very square jaw tighten as he gritted his teeth and looked between his open doorway and Samara, before deciding that Samara was more worth pursuing than keeping his eyes on the stranger.

Severus stood on the front porch for a moment, wondering what the hell he was supposed to do. He didn't particularly want to walk into the home without being invited, not that he wanted to be inside even if he were invited, but he didn't want anything to happen to Samara. Severus sighed as he cast a glance across the street and could see that the women that Samara was talking about were quite noisy, as they were trying to look and see what was happening.

Groaning in exasperation, Severus stepped inside and closed the door behind himself. He cast a brief look around to see that he was standing in the living room and that just beyond it was another room, which he guessed was the kitchen. Severus sighed, looking around the room. It was quite plain, if he had to say so. There was a couple of muggle items, like a television set, which Lily had once spoken to him about when they were younger, and a telephone. The couches in the room were made of some kind of coarse material and were a beige-ish color which matched with the curtains and the windows.

There weren't any pictures around the room, which Severus thought was kind of strange for a family home. Not that Samara's family was at all normal, but he would have guessed that her mother would at least put up pictures of herself and her daughter. Yet there was nothing. The walls were completely devoid of picture frames. He wondered if that was only because at the moment there was another inhabitant in the house, that did not seem to like his daughter very much.

Before he could think long of this, his thoughts were disturbed when he heard a strange banging sound and he walked down the hall, where he could see the man had grabbed Samara roughly by the arm and shoved her against a wall. Severus narrowed his eyes and he silently walked over, watching as Samara pushed her father away from her with all her might, causing him to bang against the wall opposite of her. "I told you to never lay your hands on me," Samara said angrily as she looked away from her father and glared down at her arm, which she started to rub.

"Yes and I made a mistake in doing so, you need to be properly disciplined," the man replied roughly as he raised his hand to strike her while she wasn't looking. However, he had taken no notice of Severus and before his strike could fall, Severus was holding onto his hand. Severus closed his right hand in a pincer-like grasp around the man's wrist, his hand shaking with anger as he glared at the surprising look on the other man's face.

"Never, lay a finger on _my_ student," Severus said through gritted teeth, before twisting the man's wrist, causing him to cry out in pain. "The consequences may be dire," he said as he twisted his hand more, causing him to fall onto his knees and cry out in more pain. Severus bent down slightly, so that he was near enough to the man's head so that only he would hear his words. "I could easily snap your wrist right now, you know? Have you ever heard the sound of bones breaking? It's rather disgusting, probably worse than the actually break. It's a very loud popping noise, like the cracking of one's knuckles, but much louder," Severus said with a small sneer playing on his features, feeling a little bit of the sadist within him coming up out of his anger.

"Let go of me, you bastard," Samara's father said roughly. Severus gritted his teeth as he bent the man's wrist slightly more, increasing the pain that shot through the man's arm.

"That's not the kind of language one should use before a young lady, or any woman for that matter," Severus said silkily.

"Professor Snape, that isn't necessary, I can take care of myself," Samara called out after him. Severus straightened himself out, not letting go of the man's wrist and looked over at Samara who was watching him curiously; her eyes seemed to, like always, see more than any one else's and the brilliant wheels of her mind were evaluating what she was witnessing. There was a guarded look on her features as she watched him, apparently wary of what her mind was concluding

"You didn't see his blow coming, pardon me for trying to help," Severus said sarcastically as he looked over at Samara, trying to get himself to calm down and the anger that had built up inside him to dissipate.

"I knew it was coming, I didn't have to see. I could have easily dodged him," Samara said as she looked at her Professor. After a moment, she smiled at him, which caused any anger he felt inside him to disappear and be replaced with puzzlement. How could she smile at him, when he was threatening to break her father's wrist and was enjoying the pain that he was causing him? He knew that Samara hated her father, but she didn't enjoy watching other's in pain and he knew she didn't particularly like violence. "We can go now Professor, I saw my mum and she's fine, she'll know I visited when she wakes up," Samara said as she motioned for him to follow.

Severus turned his gaze to the man that he was still holding and sighed. He let go of him and in a few quickly strides he had caught up with Samara and was following her outside, down the stairs and down the block. Severus tried not to look at Samara while they walked away from her house in silence, feeling somewhat embarrassed that he'd allowed her to see him to see even a little bit of that side of him. However, he was very much aware of the way that Samara was continuously shooting glances at him as they walked. There was a smile on her face that he didn't understand.

Speeding up, he tried to avoid seeing her in his peripheral vision by walking ahead of her. She seemed to allow this as they turned the corner where they would be catching the Knight Bus, away from the prying eyes of her neighbors, on a more quiet and desolate street. But as soon as he turned the corner, he felt Samara pounce on his back, her arms coming up around his neck and her legs around his middle.

"That was so cool Professor Snape," she said brightly, he could hear the large smile on her face in her voice and felt more confused. He came to a full stop and hunched slightly at the sudden weight on his back. He didn't know how he had managed to keep from falling over from the sudden weight of her body on him, however, he guessed that it was only because she was so light.

Straightening up a little, Severus realized that his hands had reached to the back of her knees as a reflex when she'd jumped onto his back. He guessed he'd done it to help support her weight and so that she wouldn't hurt herself by falling off. "Samara, what are you doing?" he asked, in a somewhat reprimanding tone. Her arms around his neck were holding him much tighter than she needed to and he guessed by the feeling of her body pressing up tightly against his back and that her face was pressed up against his that she was actually hugging him.

Samara loosened her grip around his neck and placed a kiss on his cheek. "Sorry Professor Snape, but you're my hero," she said as she pecked him once more on the cheek. Severus felt his skin flush horribly, but felt warmth inside his stomach as well. He almost felt a smile slip over his face, but turned it into a frown instead.

"All right Samara, can you get off my back now?" he asked. Samara laughed lightly and placed another kiss on his cheek before acquiescing to his request and climbing down. Severus sighed and straightened out his clothes as he turned to her. She was absolutely glowing with happiness as she looked at him and smiled warmly and almost goofily, up at him. Severus sighed once more before turning away and raising his wand in the air before stepping onto the Knight Bus, Samara bouncing behind him.

Severus' stomach tightened as he realized that it hardly mattered whether or not Samara brought up the subject about their love. The simple fact was that he loved her for everything that she was, and while he would not have her change for anything in the world, what she was, was certainly a great problem to him. Simply because he would not be able to stop loving her, and it would still torture him, whether she brought it up ever again or not.

**TBC…**

**A/N:** Like I promised, the second chapter today and showing Snape as our Knight in Black armor. LOL. Please leave a Reiview, I hope that everyone liked this chapter. **  
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	32. Enter Dumbledore

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 32: Enter Dumbledore**_

The following couple of days seemed to settle them back into the routine they'd been in. Severus occupied the living room and Samara studied in her bedroom. Like always, she came down before meal times to make the meal and together they ate in what was usually companionable silence, though, Samara was still her light and cheerful self. It was starting to drive Severus mad, not her constant cheerfulness, but by how much it drew him in and made him want to smile at her in turn. Something he simply did not do, _Severus Snape_ did not _smile_!

Severus paced his living room, it was day ten and counting, and oh yes he was counting, since Samara had stepped into his summer. Still there was no word from Dumbledore and he honestly felt that he was going bonkers having Samara in his home and ever since she'd jumped on his back he was having dreams of the most unholy nature. Dreams that unfortunately plagued him in his waking moments and on more than one occasion he found himself stiffening from. Luckily, usually when that happened she wasn't in the room, so far. However, with his luck he was sure that it wouldn't stay that way for too long.

It was for this reason, when Severus opened the door of his home when strangely enough he heard someone knocking; he was slightly relieved to see Albus Dumbledore standing at his door looking particularly merry. Usually he would be vexed if anyone would dare knock on his door, not that it really ever happened. "Ah, Hello Severus, how are you?" Professor Dumbledore asked as he looked at the younger man.

"Fine, come in, Headmaster," Severus said as he stood aside and allowed the older wizard to step inside. Severus wondered, as he looked at the bright purple suit that Albus Dumbledore was wearing if he really thought that he was being inconspicuous by wearing that. Dumbledore didn't bother to look around Spinner's end, as he'd been there once before. However, he still wondered as to whether or not Severus had really read all the books that he had stored in his living room.

"Thank you Severus," Dumbledore said as soon as he was standing inside the room. "How is Samara doing?" Dumbledore asked as he turned his full attention to Severus. Severus turned around to look at Dumbledore and motioned to one of the seats. Of course, Dumbledore took the armchair, leaving Severus to take the couch as the older man waited for an answer. Severus clenched his jaw for a moment, wishing to get over the pleasantries.

"She studies a lot," Severus replied, noncommittally. Dumbledore merely smiled at this and nodded. Severus narrowed his eyes on Dumbledore's and could see that the Headmaster would take his sweet time with this if Severus didn't outright just ask him. "Have you found Aurora?" Severus asked, to keep from sighing in exasperation. The smile on Dumbledore face slipped a little as he creased his brows slightly; usually not a very good sign.

"I actually haven't been able to start yet, I've been interviewing person after person for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position. It's quite impossible to find someone suitable for the position," Dumbledore replied a little heavily and very slowly. Severus looked over disbelievingly as he felt the vein in his temple begin to pulse as he gritted his teeth together. All this time he'd been thinking that Dumbledore was on top of things and that he would find Aurora in the least after a week, and here he was telling him that he hadn't even started to look for her yet!

Severus stared at him for a moment, trying to rationalize. Dumbledore was a very busy man and had more pressing matters than to locate one of his staff members. Repeating this over and over to himself, he managed to get his anger and frustration to lighten and he allowed for his muscles to become less tense. "How many people have you interviewed so far?" Severus asked, trying to get anything at all to take his mind off his anger.

Dumbledore perked up slightly, settling into a more comfortable position as his eyes twinkled once more. "One person a day, because if I interview more than one a day I'd get so frustrated and take the position myself," Dumbledore replied. "After Professor Default, I would very much like for the students to have a very good Professor, to make up for what they were set back."

"What is wrong with the people that you have interviewed thus far?" Severus asked as he looked at Dumbledore. Yes, he did want that position, but he was perfectly fine with being the Potions Professor. He didn't particularly feel like offering himself for that position once more, he'd already done it once that summer and once was enough. Dumbledore was simply set on hiring someone else.

"Many are under qualified, have never actually taught before and aren't particularly bright," Dumbledore replied, sighing heavily as he folded his hands in his lap. Severus stared at the Headmaster for a moment. "While there are others that seem more interested in the Dark Arts than actually teaching defense against them. I suppose I needed a break from the interviews, which is why I have dropped by. I thought that, as supply list and such were being sent out to students this week that's I'd stop by to personally deliver Samara's and check up on her. Would you mind fetching her for me Severus?"

Standing up, Severus pointed his wand to the wall behind Dumbledore and marched on up towards Samara's room. As he walked up, he noted that like every day, she'd left the door wide open. She was currently sitting on the bed, bent over and engrossed in a text book. Her long, straight black hair was tied up in a bun and held in place by her wand, something that Severus had thought strange when he'd seen it before. Severus knocked lightly on the door frame, causing Samara to look over at him and smile. "Hello Professor Snape," she said with a smile.

"Professor Dumbledore is here," Severus stated.

"Yes, I know," Samara said as she looked over at him. Severus raised a brow at this, wondering how she knew. "I have an excellent sense of hearing," she smiled up at him.

"Then you also know that he wants to speak to you," Severus stated dryly. Samara shook her head at this.

"I wasn't listening. I heard Dumbledore's voice and recognized it, but I wasn't listening. There is a difference between listening and hearing," Samara said lightly. "I don't make it a point to listen to other's conversations." She then laid her book aside and stood up and bounced down the stairs. Severus followed along behind her, wondering where on earth she got all the energy from. "Hello Professor Dumbledore," Samara said brightly as she stepped into the room and caused Dumbledore to stand and look over at her.

"Samara, glad to find you so cheerful," Dumbledore said as he extended his arms and Samara walked straight into them. Severus raised a brow at this, while he'd seen Dumbledore hug students before, usually it was during the Commencement ceremonies and only then. He'd never seen him hug a student for no other reason.

"You wanted to speak to me, Professor," Samara said. Dumbledore merely nodded and motioned for Samara to sit down as he did as well. Severus merely leaned against one of the bookshelves and crossed his arms over his chest, trying to seem less interested in this than he really was.

Dumbledore smiled at Samara as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a letter. Samara took the letter and pulled out the list of what she would need to buy for the new school year, however, furrowed her brow when she saw something inside. Samara sighed as she reached into the envelope and pulled out a silver badge. Severus raised a brow at this, and felt shock flooding through him. _Samara, Head Girl?_ While he didn't doubt that she was capable of it and of course he knew that she had the grades for it, but if Dumbledore was choosing her for Head Girl, why had he not made her a Prefect?

Severus turned his gaze to Samara and watched her just as Professor Dumbledore was. She didn't seem at all impressed with the badge she was staring at in her hands. Instead, she was looking at it rather apprehensively, her eyes clouded in thought. This had to be one of the strangest reactions to being given the honor of being Head Girl that he'd ever seen. Well he had never actually seen it before, but he'd imagined there would be more excitement on the receivers end.

Leave it to Samara to be completely unpredictable. "I think that you are far more prepared for it this time, Samara," Dumbledore said as he looked at her. Samara merely looked up into his eyes for a moment before turning to look at Severus. She smiled as she noticed that he didn't exactly comprehend that last statement.

"Professor Dumbledore offered me a Prefects badge before my fifth year and I turned it down," Samara said as she looked over at Snape who raised a brow. "I didn't want any distractions," she continued, before turning her gaze to the badge. She then turned to look over at Dumbledore once more. "Who's Head Boy?"

"Andrew Redwood," he replied. Severus thought about the boy, whom like his name suggested was pretty freakishly tall. He was also on the thin side, so it looked slightly strange. It bothered him some that the boy was actually taller than he was, by about half a foot, though what really bothered him was that he was a bloody Griffindor who just happened to be a control freak.

Looking over at Samara, he could see her grimace at this. "Head Girl if I refuse?" Samara asked as she looked at Dumbledore. Dumbledore smiled at this, causing Samara to look at him warily. All three of them knew that the Headmaster of Hogwarts clearly had something up his sleeve.

"Helena Webber," Dumbledore replied. Samara pursed her lips for a moment, despite the fact that she was smiling. Severus looked over at Dumbledore and raised a brow. Griffindor number two, something that Samara wouldn't allow and therefore had no choice but to become Head Girl.

"Well played Professor Dumbledore," Samara said with a smile. "I suppose you already knew your answer before you came then?" Samara asked as she glanced down at the badge and ran her finger over the Snake on it.

"I'm not sure I know what you're talking about," Dumbledore said enigmatically, though his eyes were sparkling. Dumbledore then stood up. "I should be going, but before I leave," he said, reaching once more into his pocket and pulling out a black leather pouch that clinked as he placed it in Samara's hand. "Hogwarts fund to help you pay for your books. As you probably don't need to buys robes, it should be enough for your books and potions ingredients and you won't need to buy them second hand."

"Thanks Professor," she said a little bashfully as she looked down at the pouch. Clearly she didn't like what that small pouch signified. Dumbledore merely nodded at this as Samara stood up. "Congratulations dear, you will make a great Head Girl," Dumbledore said as he engulfed Samara in another hug. Samara smiled in turn as she hugged the Headmaster who then turned and looked at Severus. "Well I should be going."

Severus merely nodded and motioned towards the door. Dumbledore smiled as he Severus opened the door and he looked at his past student and his current student. "I will see you both soon," he said with a small smile as he turned to leave. They both merely nodded and said their farewells as the strange, and yet most powerful man in their world left. Severus hoped that meant that he would soon be locating Aurora as he closed the door. However, he guessed that depended on the Headmaster finding a Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor.

Slowly, Severus turned around and looked over at Samara, who was staring down at the silver badge, turning it over in her hand. "Do you really object so much to having two Griffindors as Head Boy and Head Girl?" Severus asked, causing Samara to look over at him. She smiled at him and thought for a moment before responding.

"Not that I hate Griffindors, but this balances things out," she said as she showed him the silver badge with the snake on it. She then shrugged. "Besides, it won't be too much work with someone as… hard working as Andrew for Head Boy."

"That's a very nice way to put it," Severus said as he leaned against the door and crossed his arms over his chest. Samara looked over at her Professor and merely shook her head at him, a smile or amusement on her face. "Would you like to go into Diaggon Alley tomorrow to buy your supplies, it seems you may have to stay here longer than I'd thought and if I have to take you, I'd prefer it to be with the smallest amount of possibility of running into someone from Hogwarts."

Samara nodded at this. "All right, see you later Professor," she said as she turned to head up the stairs. Severus merely nodded at this, wondering if it would really be necessary to shop with her, though he guessed not as she was old enough. He felt that he really should get her something to congratulate her for becoming Head Girl. A desire that stemmed mostly out of pity for having something placed on her that she hardly seemed to want and out of true respect for her. He didn't think that anyone other than Samara deserved the title of Head Girl.

**TBC…**

** A/N:** I hope that everyone liked this chapter and didn't get too freaked that Dumbledore had found Aurora. LOL. Anyway, Please Review!


	33. Her Red X

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 33: Her Red X**_

Severus groggily sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes. He supposed it was about five in the morning and he couldn't sleep. He'd been awake for hours, trying to think of something that he might want to get Samara as a gift and was very close to giving up. His mind simply turned up blanks. He wanted to give her something that wasn't entirely practical, but he didn't want to give her something that would feel too personal. Which he supposed immediately ruled out all kinds of books, as they were too practical, which was what he was best at buying.

He stared down at the sheets between his legs and wondered if he really should get anything for her at all and if he was getting her something why he was putting so much thought into it. Wasn't that worse than if he just simply bought her anything, didn't that implicate that he wanted it to be special for her? Severus sighed as he lay back in bed, staring up at the ceiling. He ran his hands through his hair, not at all a habit of his except when he was particularly frustrated. His hair was still damp. He'd thought, at about midnight, that a nice shower would help him sleep, but it didn't help at all.

Closing his eyes, he tried his best to blank his mind and think of nothing, something that should have been considerably easy for someone so well adapt to Occlumency. However, he supposed he was getting a little rusty, because every time he closed his eyes all he could see and think about was Samara. Usually his thoughts turned to their second kiss, and what would have happened if he'd allowed it to be taken further. It was something he was not at all happy about.

Opening his eyes, Severus sat up once more and decided that if he couldn't sleep, he could at least go down and read for a couple of hours. At least that would be more productive than simply sitting in bed, staring up at the ceiling, and perhaps it would give his mind a very welcome break from Samara, though he highly doubted it.

Rising from his bed, Severus made his way over to his wardrobe and pulled on some black pants and a black shirt, before he sat on the edge of his bed and strapped on his boots. His eyes, which had long been adjusted to the darkness of the room, didn't have trouble locating anything or moving around. It wasn't very hard for him to get dressed either. Once he had his boots on, he walked back over to his wardrobe and pulled on a plain set of black robes, before running his hands through his hair.

Severus wasn't one to particularly care for his hair. Therefore, running his hands through it and making sure that it was down was enough grooming for it, at least in his opinion. Not that his hair easily tangled or anything. Strangely enough, and to Severus immense convenience, his hair rarely acted up. It was usually rather tame and rather difficult to get knots in. He didn't have to spend hours and hours, grooming it, as he'd seen Lucius do when they went to school together. That man placed more care into his hair than a girl. In Severus' opinion, that wasn't right.

Walking as noiselessly as possible, Severus made his way out of his bedroom at a leisurely pace. He supposed that there was no real rush to go and read, however, as he turned around to make his way down the hall, he noticed that the bathroom door was open and that a faint light was on in the room. Furrowing his brow, he slowly made his way and noticed that Samara was washing her mouth in the washroom.

"Good morning Professor Snape," she said in a cheery way, though it was hard to hear her. She was bent over the porcelain bowl quite low, so that her head seemed to be submerged in it and made him wonder if he'd been walking loud enough for her to hear him, because it was not like she could see him. Severus furrowed his brow, wondering why she felt the need to bend over so low to wash her teeth.

She had all hear hair tied back in a sloppy bun. Once more she was wearing just a black, spaghetti strap shirt and her dark green, flannel pajamas. Severus furrowed his brow as he looked at her waist. While noticing her pajamas, he'd noticed due to the fact that she was bending over, her tight shirt was raised slightly so that it exposed the area of her waistline and he realized that her waist of her pajama bottoms was clinging quite low on her hips. But that wasn't was he was narrowing his eyes at, there was, in the center of the small of her back, a red X. It reminded him of the way that X's were marked on pirate maps.

Severus turned his gaze away from the exposed bit of skin, trying to ignore how enticing it was and watched as Samara straightened up and wiped her mouth. "Do you always wake up this early?" Severus asked as he stared at her reflection in the oval mirror. Despite how early it was in the morning, she still looked breathtaking and not at all tired. Samara merely nodded in response to him. "What's that on your back?" Severus suddenly found himself asking, not able to stop his curious mind. Samara furrowed her brow as she looked at him and smiled at him in puzzlement.

"What are you talking about?" she asked as she looked at him. Severus raised a brow at this, wondering if she really didn't know what he was talking about.

"The X on your back?" he asked as he looked at her. Samara looked slightly confused at this and looked over her shoulder. Severus sighed in exasperation and with his index finger touched the small of her back were the X was, sending a shiver through Samara that he only noticed because of the goose bumps that had risen on her skin. It gave Severus no small pleasure to notice this, or how wonderfully soft her skin was.

He noticed that Samara blushed lightly as she downcast her gaze. "Oh, I'd completely forgotten about that," Samara said as she looked down at the bowl. She then turned around and rested against it as she looked up into his eyes. There was mild anger in her eyes, but Severus knew her well enough that it was directed, not at him, but at something else that she was thinking about. "It's a muggle tattoo; I suppose I got it last summer. I'd completely forgotten about it, it was completely stupid of me," she said, her voice turning dark as she downcast her gaze in shame and anger. "X for Xavier," she mumbled.

"You know that's easily removable," Severus said as he looked down at her, understanding what she wasn't saying. He wondered in just how many ways this guy had ruined her life, because it was all too evident that this was the man that had impregnated her. Samara looked up and smiled at him.

"Thank Professor, but considering the amount of pain I went underneath a needle... to just have it erased? Besides, it's a good reminder not to do something stupid I'll regret, you know not everything is easily taken care of with magic," Samara said as she smiled at him thankfully. Severus merely nodded at this; he didn't understand how she could possibly want to keep something that marked her as someone else's. "Actually Professor Snape, do you think that you can transfigure it to look like something else?"

Severus grimaced, but nodded. He supposed changing it into something else was probably much better than to keep the X. "Black snake in the shape of an S," she requested with a smile as she turned around and held on to the sink, while looking at the mirror. Severus looked up at her and raised a brow, wondering why an S and about to disagree. "For Slytherin," she said as she looked over at him. Severus looked at her skeptically for a moment, however, pulled out his wand and pointed it to the X and transfigured it. "Thank you Professor Snape," she said as she watched him walking away. When he'd walked down the stairs, he could have sworn he heard her laughing.

---

"So how are we going to get there?" Samara asked after breakfast. Severus turned to look at Samara, who was following him into the living room and pointing her wand to her hair, causing it to dry off. He guessed that before breakfast she had taken a shower, because when he saw her again, her hair was completely soaked and he could smell her shampoo all the way from where he sat. It was a very strong and very clean smell that he thought was quite pleasant.

"Side-along Apparation," he replied simply as he continued to walk out of his home. Of course he had wards up that did not allow him to Apparate in or Dissaparate. He could just as easily take down the ward, however, he wouldn't be there to put them back up and while Severus was sure that no one wanted to break into his home by Apparating, one could never be too careful.

Samara merely nodded in response and together they walked out of the door and down the streets in silence. Severus knew the perfect place to Apparate and it wasn't very far away. For a moment, he cast a glance at Samara, who was still trying to fix her hair as they walked, by the looks of it, she was going to place her hair in high pig-tails. Turning away, he thought about what her hair would look like. Her hair was quite long, so when she placed it in pig-tails, and pony-tails as well, her hair still reached past her shoulders.

Severus supposed that that only made sense, considering that when her hair was lose it nearly reached the small of her back. Turning to look at Samara, who had one tail up and was now working on aligning the other perfectly and symmetrically, he wondered just how much time she spent grooming her hair. It was perfectly straight and very silky. When it caught the light of the sun, parts of her hair seemed to glow silver. Having such perfect hair, Severus had to figure that she must spend hours brushing it, though he'd never seen evidence of such.

Shaking his head of thoughts of her hair, which he thought was completely ridiculous that he was thinking about her hair, that was just how bad he was in love with her, he came to a stop as he realized that they had reached their destination. "We can Apparate from here," he said, turning around to her and holding out his arm to her as she finished tying the second tail. She then looked up at him and smiled.

"Are they straight?" she asked as she looked at him. Severus stared at the young woman before him, whom had chosen to wear a plain set of black robes, which actually clung to the upper half of her slim body. Severus raised a brow at her, wondering if she was really expecting him to answer that. It was like he was back in Hogwarts with Lucius all over again. He never wanted to answer appearance questions than, and he didn't want to now; personally he didn't even understand why anyone would ask _him_ if they looked all right to him.

"Just how much time do you spend on your hair?" Severus asked as he looked down at her. Samara merely shrugged.

"I brush it once in the morning, and it remains tangle free for most of the day. I comb it out before I go to sleep and that's pretty much it. I don't really count the one or two minutes it takes me to tie it up," she said as she looked at him. Severus merely nodded at this. He supposed that she had to be telling him the truth, for as far as he'd known her she had yet to lie to him, as far as he knew.

"I suppose their fine," he said as he looked at her. They looked symmetrical to him. Samara smiled as she took his arm. Severus sighed as he thought about Diagon Alley. Soon enough, he felt the ground beneath him disappearing and felt like the air was being squeezed out of his lungs. However, the feeling didn't last too long because soon he felt the ground beneath his feet again and found himself standing in Diagon Alley.

Samara and himself soon found themselves looking around for a moment. Diagon Alley was uncommonly full, considering it was a weekday, however, most of the people there seemed to be about Severus' age or older. This made him feel slightly relieved, however, he supposed it was not entirely possible to keep from running into someone that they knew. Turning to look at Samara, he delicately removed her arm, which she was still holding onto him, and stared down at her.

"I think you are more than capable of shopping for yourself, I have a few… errands to run and I'll meet you back here in about an hour, all right?" Severus said as he stared down at her. Samara looked up at him and smiled slightly as she nodded her head. Severus merely nodded at this as he turned around and made his way down Diagon Alley, careful not to bump into anyone and making his way through the few people loping around, slithering through the crowds in a snake-like fashion.

He really had nowhere to go, as he was yet unsure of what he was going to be getting Samara, however, that was not going to keep him from striding away from her with purpose. He supposed if he'd walked away idly, she would think that he was really just trying to get away from her, which he supposed he was, though mainly because he didn't want her to know that he was thinking of buying her a gift.

When he was sure he was out of her sight, he cast glances at the shops around in Diagon Alley, however, he didn't spot anything that caught his attention. Eventually, he found himself making his way through Knockturn Alley, though he was quite sure that he wasn't very likely to find anything there other than old acquaintances he was better off not running into. However, for some reason or other, he felt a particular pull from Knockturn Alley today and soon found himself making his way to Borgins and Burkes. Well, either way, if this was a total waste of time, at least he'd get some entertainment out of it, as he'd always enjoyed to look at the Dark materials they sold there.

---

An hour later, Severus made his way back through Diagon Alley to meet back up with Samara, a parcel inside his pocket bouncing against his leg. Strangely enough, he'd found something quite perfect in Borgins and Burkes, one of the rare few items that didn't possess some dark and mystical quality. Apparently, the item had been purchased solely for its rarity and easily had to be one of the most expensive things that he'd ever bought. However, he simply knew that it was the perfect gift for Samara the moment he saw it and hadn't particularly cared for how much it cost.

For someone, whom for years had rarely bought anything but books and potions ingredients, which at times were expensive themselves, depending on their rarity, he'd had quite a bit of money saved up. He wouldn't say that in his several years he'd saved up a fortune, but he had more than enough that he could waste this bit for Samara.

He wondered if she was done with her shopping yet. Casting a brief look around, he easily spotted her. However, that was mainly due to the fact that she was standing before a young man that had brilliant red hair that he had tied at the nape of his neck with a black string. Severus narrowed his eyes and after a moment recognized Bill Weasley, whom Severus guessed would be entering his fifth year this year.

Severus stopped his progress and pretended to be interested in something that an outdoor vendor was selling. He didn't particularly wish to approach Samara at the point that they were meeting, as she was currently standing there with another one of his students. As he looked down at what the vendor was selling, magical devices that were cheap and he really couldn't care for, he wondered why on earth Samara Green was speaking to Bill Weasley, a Griffindor who was two years younger than she was.

Casting a side-long glance at them, as they stood about two or three shops over, he saw that Samara was smiling and nodding her head slightly at the teenage boy, whom for his age was quite tall as he was as tall as she was and she was two years older. Bill seemed to be speaking more enthused than Severus had ever seen him speak, which was strange considering that in his class or whenever he'd seen him in the halls, Bill never seemed enthused about much. He was, what teenagers would probably say, too cool for that. Mentally, Severus rolled his eyes at this.

By the looks of it, Samara and Bill knew each other well, though Severus had no idea how, considering how he'd never seen them together before. It made him wonder if perhaps they had met before Hogwarts, though he didn't think this too likely considering how Samara seemed to have grown up in a rather muggle-like fashion and he knew that Bill was a pureblood. "Where has your brother gotten off too?" Severus cast a glance at a somewhat round woman who was making her way through the crowds, a trail of redhead children behind her, one which he recognized as another of his students, Charlie Weasley, a Griffindor who would be starting he second year.

For a moment, Severus felt his eyes widen as he counted the amount of children the woman had with her and wondering if they would ALL be his students at one point or other. There was a thin boy, who looked slightly younger than Charlie with curly hair, two boys who were identical who looked slightly younger than that one, and than a child that seemed to be about six or seven, clutched onto the woman's hand, as the other clutched on to the only girl in the family, who seemed to be the youngest as well.

Severus felt a small sense of horror that a woman could pop out so many children. His eyes narrowed on the twin boys as he immediately realized that they would be one of the biggest problem he would ever have. They had the same mischievous sparkle in their eyes that he recognized in James Potter and Sirius Black's eyes and they seemed to be quite intent on picking on their youngest brother.

"He's talking to Samara Green," he heard Charlie Weasley say as the group made their way by. "She's friends with my friend Tonks and helped us study for our finals last year."

"That's nice of her, is she in Bills year?" the woman asked as they came to a stop, probably wondering is she should really ambush her son while he was speaking to a girl. Though, her body seemed to momentarily twitch towards her son, clearly wanting to meet this girl that his son was speaking about.

"No, she's going to be a seventh year," Charlie said nonchalantly with a shrug. Severus bent his head down, feeling caught and unable to move. He didn't want to make any sudden movements and draw the attention of the group of redheads, and neither did he have much of a desire to catch Samara's attention in this particular moment.

His stomach tightened as every muscle in his body tensed. This, strangely enough, to him was one of his worst experiences. In his nearly six years teaching at Hogwarts, never before had he run into students outside of Hogwarts or Hogsmead and that was how he would prefer things to stay as he particularly enjoyed keeping his private life, separated from his work. Therefore, the possibility of being seen by two of his current students, seven kids that might possibly become his students one day and their mother, while in Diagon Alley with another one of his students wasn't something that was remotely appealing to him.

Worst case scenario he could imagine was being caught by the whole Weasley gang with Samara and causing them all to think the wrong thing. "She's very pretty," he heard a small female voice say and he guessed that it could only be the female child of the family.

"She doesn't look like she should be a seventh year, she looks too young," the mother commented. "Fred, George, leave your bother alone!" he heard the woman say rather sharply. Severus didn't need to turn around that she'd reprimanded the twins, whom he could hear sniggering, for messing with the other child that she was holding.

Severus cast a glance towards Samara and Bill and was slightly relieved to see that they were parting, though he narrowed his gaze at them when they hugged briefly, before Bill bounced towards his family. Samara merely stayed where she was and cast a glance around. While Severus would have liked nothing more than to leave, he still could not move due to the fact that the Weasley family was still standing somewhere to his back and he could still draw their attention. He groaned to think he would have to wait until they moved away.

"Who's your girlfriend Bill," he heard one of the kids taunt Bill. He supposed it had to be one of the twins.

"She's not my girlfriend and her name is Samara Green," Bill Weasley said as he heard someone _umph_. The he heard a voice in mock anger say, '_What was that for',_ and he guessed Bill had just mildly hurt the brother that had taunted him. "She's become Head Girl." Severus gritted his teeth in frustration, wondering when the hell they were going to walk away. There was only a certain amount of time one could pretend to be interested in a stand and remain completely motionless!

"Well that's very good," Mrs. Weasley said.

"Mum, can we have cake now?" he heard a child ask.

"Ron, you're always thinking about…" the woman started to reprimand, however, before she could finish she stopped herself. "I left a cake in the oven," she said suddenly, before he heard her call out to her children and rush away. Severus relaxed his muscles when he caught sight of all the Reds rushing in the opposite direction and finally felt free to walk away from the stand and towards Samara.

Severus sighed as he came to a stop before Samara and held out his arm to her, wishing to get away from Diagon as quickly as possible. "You're late," Samara teased as she looked at him. Severus glared down at her and held out his arm to her, meaningfully.

"I was caught in the middle of something," he said tersely. Samara smiled.

"I noticed," she said with a light giggle as she took his arm. Severus clenched his jaw as he glared at her. However, he supposed before he snapped at her that he should Apparate first. When they reached the edge of the river, Severus turned to Samara who was merely smiling up at him, but before he could say anything she's opened that gorgeous mouth of hers again. "Sorry about that, I didn't know that I was going to run into Bill and I didn't want to be rude and just tell him to leave me alone."

With that alone, Severus felt any annoyance he felt slipping away. "How do you even know him?" Severus asked. Samara looked away as they started to walk back towards Spinner's End. He took this as a sign that it wasn't something that she really wanted to tell him about.

"Do you remember, in my fourth year, when you saw me fighting with the Griffindor girl?" Samara asked, causing him to nod in response. "She attacked me because I was dating Bill at the time. She managed to disarm me because she shocked me with the fact that he was only a second year. I mean I'd known he was younger than me, but I thought he was a third year," Samara said, her cheeks flushing. Severus felt an unwelcome emotion flooding though him that he didn't quite recognize but felt somewhat familiar.

"You dated a _second year_," he mocked, trying not to be affected by whatever dark emotion had clouded over him. Samara blushed even more furiously at this.

"For about a month, when I found out he was a second year I broke up with him. Not because he was younger than me, but more because he hadn't told me that he was two years younger. I was angry because I felt deceived," Samara said with a shrug. "But I don't hold it against him, I understand why he didn't tell me. We even tried to date again my fifth year, but that lasted up until about the Career Advice meeting because suddenly I didn't have time for anything but to prove you and everyone else who didn't think I could become a serious Healer wrong."

Severus turned to look at Samara, feeling the dark emotion abate a little as he looked at her. Samara had come a long way since then, or he felt that she had, and he couldn't believe that he'd ever doubted her for a moment. "That doesn't explain how you even met him," Severus said as they walked into his home, he hadn't even realized that they were there already. Samara merely shrugged as she pulled out the parcels, which she had shrunk, out of her pocket and placed them on the table. As she sat on the couch, she returned them to their original size.

"Met him through Andrew Redwood, whom I'd been helping with his Transfiguration assignment one night," Samara said. Severus raised a brow at this, but didn't say anything as he took a seat on the couch with her. He hadn't done this consciously. Samara smiled at him teasingly. "Does that pacify your jealousy, or is there more you'd like to know?" she said lightly, smiling magnificently at him.

Severus felt as the color from his face drain as he suddenly felt nauseous. Jealousy, so that was the feeling that he'd forgotten and made him feel sick, no wonder her didn't recognize what that strange feeling was. Narrowing his gaze at her, he glared. While it was true, he was definitely not about to admit it. "I am not jealous, merely curious, my greatest fault," he said curtly as he looked at her. She merely nodded, though he could see the skeptical look in her eyes.

"Sure Professor," Samara said with light sarcasm in her tone as she picked up her things and headed towards the door. He heard her giggling all the way up the stairs and groaned as he sat back on the couch. He felt the beginnings of a headache coming on and couldn't believe that it had just been yesterday that Dumbledore had stopped by to tell him that he hadn't even started to look for Aurora yet. He was definitely going to lose his mind before the summer was over.

**TBC…**

**A/N: **It took me quite sometime today to update, sorry about that, but this chapter ran longer than I expected it to. But I hope that it was full of goodies you all enjoyed. Please review because you guys really motivate me to keep going.**  
**


	34. Midnight Snacks

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 34: Midnight Snacks**_

It was day fourteen since Samara had come to live with him at Spinner's End and only four days after Professor Dumbledore had stopped by for a visit. Nothing exciting had happened in the past several days and that was very good, at least he thought so. Samara spent most of her free time, reading and looking through her new school books. She even looked through them while she was at the table during meals. It seemed that she was determined to get a jump start in all her classes.

Severus wondered as he lay in bed staring up at the ceiling, if she was all right. She was being unusually quiet, her cheerfulness dulled down slightly and she seemed so very distracted. It made him wonder if she was distracted, or just overly concentrated on her studies. Turning to his side, he stared momentarily at the night stand and he stared at the wrapped parcel he had yet to give to Samara. He'd planned to give it to her that very same day, but he'd forgotten about it once she'd disappeared to look at her new books. The days simply kept passing and while they were passing none too quickly, he simply couldn't find a proper opportunity to give it to her.

Reaching out, Severus took the parcel in his hands and turned it, over and over, thinking about the gift. He really thought that it was a shame if he didn't give it to the person it was meant for, however he was unsure of how or when to give it to her. He didn't want it to be something that was overly emotional or anywhere near romantic in anyway. However, he didn't want to be a crude ogre and just hand it to her and walk away. That would considerably degrade the gift.

Sighing, Severus threw his legs out of bed and strode over to his wardrobe and put on one of his plainer set of black robes made of slightly lighter materials than the others and slipped into it, unconsciously slipping the gift into the robes pocket. Tonight, like all the previous nights, was not one were he would be able to sleep. Why did gifts have to be so hard? First, there is the turmoil of getting the perfect gift, taking into consideration the person whom receives the gift. Afterwards there is the wrapping and the grievance over how to present the gift. It was all infuriating, why did people even bother?

Knowing that his mind was thusly plagued, Severus knew that he would be unable of retaining any sleep. It was futile to even try and it seemed far easier to him to simply make his way down into his living room and look through the shelves and shelves of books that he owned and pick up and read one. However, as he skimmed the spines of his books with only his wands light, he heard a strange thump.

Severus turned around and narrowed his gaze at the kitchen door, which strangely enough was cracked slightly. Severus pulled out his wand and alertly and silently he walked through the empty living room and towards the kitchen. He turned off his light when he'd turned it to the kitchen counter and spotted Samara sitting on it drinking milk with cookies. "Samara, what are you doing?" he asked a little vexed as he looked over at her through the darkened kitchen. It was lit only faintly by whatever light from outside washed into the room through a small window.

"I couldn't sleep, I came down for a snack," she replied; he could hear the smile in her voice even though he could not yet see her face. He could dimly see the outline of her thin shoulders shrug in the darkness as she responded. His eyes were still trying to adjust to the darkness of the kitchen, due to the fact he'd been using his wand light and he could vaguely see her silhouette. She was, as usual wearing a spaghetti strap shirt; her legs were closed and crossed at the ankles as they dangled off the counter. Her long hair was loose and hanging down past her shoulders and she was swinging her legs lightly while she ate her cookies. "What are you doing down here, Professor Snape?" she asked curiously in a polite fashion.

"I couldn't sleep either, came to get a book to read when I heard something strange from the kitchen," he replied, before he heard the strange thump again. He looked at her swinging leg at the same time Samara did and realized what had made the noise. The back of her heel had once more hit one of the lower cabinets.

"Want some cookies?" she asked as she pointed to the plate that was beside her. Severus cast a glance at the cookies and stared at them for a moment, before stepping closer to her and taking a cookie. Samara had made them from scratch herself, earlier in the day. While Severus had never much liked chocolate chip cookies, Samara had placed the perfect amount of chocolate chips so that it wasn't overwhelmingly sweet.

While taking a bite, he looked into Samara's eyes. He obviously could not see their color, but despite the darkness he could still see them twinkle. For a moment, Severus leaned on the counter and cast a look down as he ate. He was surprised to see that the cookies were still as soft as when she'd first baked them. However, his mind was soon distracted from the thoughts of cookies as he realized that Samara's legs were bare. He wondered for a moment what she was wearing, and soon realized that she was wearing short shorts, not her usual pajamas.

Severus swallowed the cookie in his mouth and looked up at Samara who didn't seem to notice that he was watching her. She was chewing on her cookie while staring up at the ceiling rather thoughtfully. "Are you all right Samara?" Severus asked as he looked over at her. Samara turned her gaze to him, a bit surprised it seemed, but smiled at him.

"My Apparation test is in three days," she said as she looked at him. Severus nodded, though he didn't understand. He was well aware of when her test was and as it seemed that Dumbledore was no closer to finding Aurora Sinistra, he was quite sure that he would have to take Samara to take her exam, which didn't take very long. He supposed that what took long was only the waiting. He'd been planning to tell her in the next day or two that he had to take her. "I guess I'm just a little nervous."

"Why?" Severus suddenly asked incredulously as he looked at her. Sure, he knew that Samara had splinched herself the first time, but he didn't think that was any different from the countless other students as well. Besides, he was quite sure that at the twelve lessons in total, Samara had a very good handle on how to Apparate. Though, as he looked at her somewhat preoccupied face, he wondered if he was right. He was unsure, considering that he hadn't been able to pay her all too much mind as there were so many students in the Great Hall trying to Apparate and splinching themselves. It didn't help much that Professor Sprout had previously been injured and no other teacher was willing to help out in the Apparating lessons. Therefore, they were short-handed with too many students for him to pay too much attention to what his start pupil was doing.

"I suppose it's just that I haven't done it in a while and I feel like I may have forgotten how or that I'll do it wrong on the first try," Samara said with a slight shrug. Severus smiled at Samara, happy for the cover of darkness because it meant that she could not see it. He'd never before seen her question her own ability to do anything. It was slightly endearing to him, though he personally believed that Samara could do anything that she set her mind to, which was why her words still worried him, '_You will be mine'._

"You know the steps, you've done it successfully before and so long as you concentrate, I'm sure you'll pass," he said matter-of-factly so that it didn't sound too much like he was trying to encourage her.

Unfortunately, it was like Samara sometimes heard things that people didn't say and she threw her arms around him and hugged him tight. "Thank you Professor," she said brightly, her voice beaming with the smile that was undoubtedly etched on her face. He could feel one of her cheeks pressed against his, turned up into a smile while blood rushed to his cheeks, making his skin feel hot. For a moment, he wondered why Samara had to be so damn affectionate. However, he knew that this was one of her more endearing aspects. "I should try to get some sleep," Samara said as she let go of him and bounced off the counter. "Good night Professor Snape," she said, before placing a kiss on his cheek and bouncing away.

Severus placed a hand to his cheek, which was still burning from the soft brush of her lips. Why couldn't he ever anticipate when she was going to be affectionate to put a stop to it before it happened? Was it simply because Samara was so unpredictable and overly affectionate anyway? He wondered why he hadn't put a stop to it the first time, but didn't have to wonder too long to know that it was because he loved her and couldn't really deny her anything. So far, all he was capable of denying her was a relationship with him, and he didn't think that was going too well.

**TBC…**

** A/N: Please Review!  
**


	35. Dark Side Of The Moon

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 35: Dark Side Of The Moon**_

Severus had been standing in the main hall of the ministry for over an hour now, with his face buried into the same Daily Prophet for the better part of that hour. However, he found that he still hadn't made it past the second page as he kept re-reading the same thing over and over again. He still couldn't get over how beautiful Samara looked today and all his thoughts were on her at the very moment. He at least hoped that by now she was getting her test over with.

Surprisingly enough, the days before her apparition test ha**d** passed by quite quickly. It was something Severus found extremely strange considering that nothing happened in the past several days. It made Severus feel a little anxious and apprehensive. He felt as though something terrible might happen and hoped that he was wrong. Because the only thing he could see going very wrong was Samara not passing her apparition test and he hoped that that didn't happen.

They'd arrived earlier than the time they were supposed to be there, because Severus remembered when he'd taken his, he'd had to wait much longer than necessary because he'd arrived at the exact time he had to be there. Now having the hindsight of knowing how many people would be there, he'd decided to take her at least two hours earlier to cut the time short.

When they'd arrived, there weren't very many people; of course this was considering it was the Ministry of Magic which is always full of people. Knowing that there were past _acquaintances_ working at the Ministry and that there was a high possibility of running into several other seventh years that were appointed to show up today, he'd taken particular care when he'd walked Samara down to the sixth level where the Department of Magical Trasnportation was and walked her down to the Apparation Test Area. At which point, he'd left her on her own and told her to meet him in the main hall when she was done while, before which he'd assured her that she would pass.

It seemed that Samara was still slightly worried, because when he walked into breakfast that morning, she'd had quite the breakfast ready and looked extraordinary. He supposed that she hadn't been able to sleep and decided to get ready and when she'd thoroughly gotten ready, she'd decided that she should make breakfast. He didn't know at what time that was, but by the time he'd gotten to breakfast that morning she'd made quite the breakfast. She toasted bread, made pancakes, made scrambled eggs with bacon, French toast, freshly squeezed orange juice, omelet's and peanut butter cookies.

It had completely bewildered him to see so much food, and he wasn't even at Hogwarts. When she looked at him she smiled nervously, saying that she'd gotten a bit carried away. He was about to respond with mild sarcasm when he turned to her. However, there was no way that he could respond to her, because she simply left him speechless with how beautiful she looked. It was something strange, to be left absolutely speechless, especially for someone like him who always had something to say, and always something snarky.

She'd curled her long black hair so that it fell in soft loose curls and had it pinned, just beyond her ears, out of her face with emerald green broaches in the shapes of snakes. There was something different about her eyes, because their beauty was so much more enhanced and her usually straight sooty lashes, seemed to curl over her eyes and seemed thicker than before. There was very light pinkish tone to her eyelids, and her lips were a blossom color pink that sparkled. He knew that she was wearing makeup, but it was so light that it almost looked natural.

The robes she wore were white, and had green lining along the hem and sleeves that sparkled emerald green when they caught the light. It was not hard to notice that the robes were fitted perfectly to her body and that when she moved, certain parts were hugged snugly and appealingly. She looked beyond beautiful, and as when she turned to him and smiled, he wondered why someone so beautiful as Samara Green could possibly fall in love with him; he had to imagine that he'd done something very good in a past life.

"Severus?" Before Severus could think to ignore the arrogant voice that registered in his brain as something unpleasant, he found himself looking up and into the gray eyes of Lucius Malfoy. Severus cursed inside his head as he raised a brow and closed the Daily Prophet he'd been looking through. He maintained a neutral expression on his face as Lucius Malfoy stepped closer to him, the man's strides as languid and haughty as they ever were.

"Lucius," Severus said with a nod as he and Lucius shook hands for a moment. Ever the spy, Severus always maintained the proper type of demeanor amongst past Death Eaters, whom he hadn't seen very many of the past several years as it seemed that most of them preferred to avoid each other and the past that they had shared. "You look well," Severus said distantly, looking at the almost extravagant black robes that Lucius was wearing, Lucius had always been one to bask in the superfluous.

Lucius nodded at this, an arrogant smile spreading over his face. "One tries," was the arrogant reply that came from the older man's lips. Not much older, about five years older, however, Severus ignored this. Lucius didn't very much act his age, at least not in Severus' opinion. He thought that Lucius was very immature, even when they were at Hogwarts. It hardly even mattered that the man appeared to be a responsible student, Severus knew better and so did most of the people that knew Lucius.

"How is Narcissa and your son?" Severus asked, trying to sound remotely conversational and steer Lucius away from any unwanted questions. However, Lucius didn't seem too keen on speaking about the gorgeous woman he'd been married to for the better part of a decade, or about his son for that matter. Lucius looked away, looking around the entrance hall as he held his hands behind his back, his gray eyes roving around through a narrowed gaze.

"We disagree in the raising of our son. She coddles him too much and tries to keep me from controlling him with an iron hand," Lucius replied dryly, still looking away. "Quite frankly she's become overly rigid and I find I've had to look elsewhere…" he said, trailing off, sure that Severus understood what he meant. Severus merely nodded his understanding. He'd always thought that Narcissa was frigid, but he held her in the highest of respects. She'd been a brilliant witch from a good family and was quite elegant. He admired her for her great patience, which she had to have to have married a man like Lucius.

Lucius had always been one prone to infidelity. Ever since they were at Hogwarts and Lucius started to date Narcissa he cheated on her, despite the fact that he claimed that he loved her. And of course, Narcissa knew about it. After all, she was a bright witch. However, she had the good grace never to out Lucius in public, and allowed him to keep his pride in tact. It was not something that Severus particularly agreed with, but he had to admire her for it, because he didn't think he knew of any other woman who would not wish to absolutely humiliate the bastard whom had cheated on them.

"What's the problem with… Draco, right?" Severus asked. It was somewhat hard to remember the boy's name, it had been about five years since he'd last seen him and at the time the child was still quite young. He was sure he wasn't even one yet. Lucius turned to look at Severus for a moment before turning away and continuing to allow his glance to look through the halls. Severus wondered, if Lucius had grown so disinterested in their conversation that he couldn't stop looking around, why he simply didn't bid him farewell.

"He's becoming a disappointment," Lucius stated bluntly. Severus stared at Lucius through a narrowed gaze while raising a brow. He didn't understand how a child, who couldn't be older than six, could be a disappointment already. "Severus, what do you think about the woman there?" Lucius suddenly asked distractedly, nodding with his head. Severus turned to look before he had a chance to stop himself and felt vexed that he'd turned in the first place.

Severus narrowed his eyes in on Samara and guessed that it was the person whom Lucius was talking about, seeing how she was the only woman in the vicinity of where he was looking to. She was standing at one of the café' vendors with what appeared to be a coffee in her hand. For a moment, he wondered what the hell she was doing, how the hell she had paid for the coffee, and wondered when the hell she had finished her test. However, he guessed that it was for the best that she was there, he'd rather not have to explain to Lucius why he was there with her.

"Do you honestly expect me to answer that?" Severus asked as Lucius turned to look at him, a slightly amused sneer spreading over his lips. Whenever Lucius asked him this when they were at Hogwarts, Severus merely shrugged and said a girl was pretty. Usually, any girl that Severus thought as pretty wasn't good enough for Lucius and if Severus thought that the girl was beautiful, Lucius thought that she was pretty enough. It wasn't something Severus particularly cared for, considering the fact that Lucius rather thought of himself as a god amongst mortals, though he was no such thing.

"She's pretty enough and I haven't been shagged in a week. Excuse me Severus," Lucius said before striding away quickly. Severus clenched his teeth as he watched Lucius approach Samara, whom seemed rather surprised by the fact that he was speaking to her. He could see that Samara tried to smile and nod politely to whatever Lucius was saying to her. However, he saw her eyes darken as Lucius progressed. It was a change that was only noticeable as the smile on her face slipped away with the passing seconds, but considering this was Lucius, whom the only face he paid remote attention to was his own reflection, he didn't seem to notice.

Severus furrowed his brow, wondering what was going on as he watched Samara suddenly smile at Lucius, though her eyes were still dark with something Severus' hadn't seen before. His stomach clenched as he continued to watch the scene unfold from where he stood, standing perhaps over twenty feet away. Far enough so that his attention on them wasn't overly noticeable and unfortunately, also far enough away that he couldn't see exactly what was going on between the two, nor hear it.

His confusion and unease only increased as Samara continued to smile, seemingly encouraging Lucius as he stepped much closer to her. He watched as her mouth moved, entranced by the action of her lips moving and the almost sensuous look that came over her face as she smiled bewitchingly. The smile on Lucius face grew as he stepped closer still to Samara, so that they were about a foot apart. His stomach clenched and his heart stopped as he watched Samara place her index finger on Lucius chest, sliding it slowly in a winding fashion down, over his abdomen and disappear somewhere Severus could only guess where.

Immediately after the disappearance of her hand, he watched Lucius double over, his face disappearing behind the other side of her head. Samara turned away slightly, so that Severus couldn't see her face, but he could see that she was saying something in Lucius' ear. A moment later, Samara snatched her hand away from Lucius' person, causing him to stand up straight and walk away in a mighty rush.

Samara stood there for a moment, watching as the silver-haired man rushed down in the opposite direction, while Severus watched on in confusion. When Lucius had disappeared, Samara turned around and walked slowly towards where Severus was standing, a preoccupied expression on her face. She didn't look very happy as she approached him, her head looking down at her steps as she walked.

"How do you know such a pig?" Samara asked when she stopped before him. Severus looked down at her and raised a brow. He'd never heard her refer to someone in such a manner and wondered if she was just acting for his sake or if Lucius had really pissed her off. However, guessing by how close she'd allowed him to get, the way that she was seemingly flirting with him, and touching him, Severus guessed not.

"From here it looked like you were enjoying his attentions," Severus said coldly as he looked down at her. Samara scuffed at this as she turned away. She didn't seem about to say anything in turn and Severus could feel anger begin to boil inside him, wondering if she had liked Lucius' attention and whatever she'd said to Lucius had displeased him and now she was only angry that she'd been rejected. Remembering back to how he'd rejected her and how she said she'd never before been rejected, he guessed it was something that she didn't like at all. He glared down at her, wondering what the hell he really was to her. Did she only want him because he rejected her and she saw him as something unattainable? Was he some type of caprice to her? "Did your propositions chase him away? Or did he realize that you were simply not worth it?"

Samara looked up at Severus and glared at him, despite the confusion on her face. She didn't seem at all hurt by his words, simply confused and angry that he would dare say such a thing to her. "Excuse me?" she asked a little sharply as she looked at him. Severus could see that she was losing her temper, like she'd done a fair few times in the past. She was seriously just a volcanic eruption waiting to happen ever so often. He wondered if she pent up the rage inside her until she couldn't contain it and exploded.

"You heard me perfectly well, or were you lying to me when you said you had an excellent sense of hearing?" he asked coldly, in that calm fashion that infuriated others, as he looked down into her eyes. "Wouldn't be too surprising as it seems you lie about a lot of things. You didn't tell me the whole truth about your parents, clearly you don't love me if give your attentions so freely to anyone who will look at you. Is everything you are a lie?"

"I have never lied to _you._ I never said I didn't lie, I simply don't like to, but it is necessary at time. But I would _never _lie to you because I _love _you," she said through gritted teeth, keeping her jaw clenched so that she wouldn't shout at him, which she had every urge to. He could see the anger in her eyes, and judging by the way her hands, which were rolled into tight fists, were trembling, he thought that she had a strong urge to hit him as well, but was struggling to control herself. "I already told you why I didn't tell you the whole truth about my parents and clearly, you don't understand the concept behind acting, because I have no interest in _him_. But you have some damn nerve, when the bastard is your _friend_."

"A friend? I regard him as much a friend as you do yours," he said sarcastically as he looked at her, still not feeling convinced about her love for him. It was strange, but this was actually the first time his belief in her love for him was shaken and it was a very strange feeling. He felt like his heart was tearing slowly at it. As though a millimeter was torn per minute to make him agonize longer with the hope that he would be proven wrong, and that hope was the worst pain. "And what would you act interested for, what do you gain from that?"

"It causes him to drop his guard and step closer so I can do this," she said lowly as she stepped closer to him and he suddenly felt her hand clench onto a very sensitive body part and causing him to double over just as Lucius had, his head hovering lightly over her shoulder. "Don't ever speak to me like that again, Severus," she whispered in his ear as her grip tightened on him and he had to clench his eyes shut at the pain. He couldn't imagine where her spaghetti arms got the strength from. "I can't always control my anger, especially not after being sexually harassed and having my love questioned by the love of my life, whom may I remind you won't accept me."

Severus straightened up and pulled away from her when she released him and felt a sigh of relief escape from his lips. Severus looked over at Samara and could see that despite the anger in her voice and her actions, that there were tears in her eyes and pain, far worse than the one Xavier or her parents had ever caused her. Immediately, every word he'd said in his anger and desperation hurt more than the agony he'd felt when he'd believed that she didn't love him. Because the pain in her eyes, delved far deeper than anything else. However, before he had a chance to say anything she as gone in a _pop_.

Staring at the spot where she had just disappeared from, Severus felt fear enter him, wondering where she had gotten off to. Panic started to seep into him as he realized that he didn't know if she would come back, where she would go, if she would be all right or anything at all. However, he knew one thing, she'd passed her exam which was not at all helpful.

**TBC…**

**A/N: **Ooooo! Trouble in paradise. LOL. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Please Review.**  
**


	36. Coward, The Magic Word

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 36: Coward, The Magic Word**_

He'd been pacing in his living room for the better part of the day, night and now dawn. He hadn't slept at all and he was going crazy with worry and frustration that he couldn't go out and look for Samara because she could be anywhere. He was nearly tearing out fistfuls of hair out while thinking millions of thoughts at the same time, one of the foremost cursing himself for the things he said, and cursing Samara for being so damn impulsive. However, he knew well enough that _that _was his fault as well. Whenever Samara lost her temper, she was no longer in control of what she said or what she did. While she was usually impulsive, Samara had a good head on her shoulders. However, in her anger he was unsure if whether she would really think through what she was doing.

Severus sat down on the couch and placed his head in his hands, running his hands through his hair and gripping it so tight that he felt the starting of a migraine coming on. If anything happened to her, he was the only one to blame because he was in charge of her. Sure she was of age, but that did not remove the responsibility from his shoulders. What plagued him most was the idea that if anything happened to Samara, he wouldn't be able to go on living, there would be absolutely not point or reason to. He didn't even know if he could go on living without her in this world.

While he was well aware that as soon as Samara graduated from Hogwarts that he probably would never see her again and would have to live without her, but at least than he would have the knowledge that she was going on with her life and probably quite happy with it. That he could live with. What he couldn't live with was her not existing anymore. That would break his heart beyond measure and leave him absolutely lifeless and in shambles, unable to continue moving through life and frankly he would have no desire to.

Lost in his thoughts, he almost missed the sound of the door unlocking. But some part in his brain seemed to process the soft click that he heard and he looked up, his heart beating faster with hope as the door opened. Relief flooded through him as he watched Samara step in and close the door behind herself, her movements still fluid but more clumsy than what was usual for her. For a moment, he wondered if it was just her weary body that caused her to lean her forehead against the closed door, but when she slowly turned around and looked into his eyes, the bleariness of her hazel eyes told him the truth. She'd gotten drunk.

Anger flared back into his being and he narrowed his gaze on Samara and clenched his teeth and fist as she stumbled over and flopped down on the couch. She slouched down next to him and rested her head back, closing her eyes. Severus stared at her, trying to gain control of his temper, because he was afraid that if he roared at her, 'where the hell have you been' that she might just decide to leave again. And the worry and guilt trip was not something he wanted to go through again, any time soon.

"Where have you been?" he said, his voice sounding strangely calm, despite the fact that he spoke through gritted teeth. He was almost sure that his voice was going to at least tremble with the rage inside of him, but it hadn't. The curls in her hair had by now straightened out and she'd removed the makeup from her face, but she still looked pretty kempt, considering the fact that she was hammered.

"Randomly roaming around, ran into Benjamin Baker in Diagon Alley and we went out to drink at some bar he knew, he paid for everything," Samara replied, her voice slurring slightly as she reached up with her hands and held her head, squinting her eyes shut tighter. It was something that he started to recognize as some of the first symptoms of a hangover, Samara was in for one hell of a day if he didn't give her a cleansing potion. Severus stared at her, wondering just how much she had to drink and whether he should give her the potion or not. He thought it would serve her as a good lesson to go through her first hangover; however, he was unsure as to whether or not his heart could bear to see her in any pain at all.

Benjamin Baker was a year older than Samara and was in Hufflepuff. From the years that Severus had him, he was a good boy though Severus had always thought that he was a little queer, and not in the strange kind of way. "What were you thinking?" he snapped at Samara as he stood up. Samara didn't open her eyes or turn to look at him. She merely covered her whole face with her hands. He could hardly hear her muffled and slurred response, which he supposed was something like 'thinking I wanted to get the hell away from you'.

Severus felt as his anger dissipate as he remembered the look on her face just before she disapparated. Standing up, he exited the room and walked into the kitchen, before walking back with a cleansing potion in his hand. There was a particular cabinet in the kitchen that contained several potions in case of emergencies and this just happened to be one of them. He was quite sure that Samara had never bothered to open this particular cabinet, however, he guessed that she could've and never said anything about it.

Walking back into the room Severus sat next to Samara and pulled her hands away from her face. Samara looked over at him, however, when she saw the potion in his hand, parted her lips slightly as he tilted some of the potion in her mouth. She closed her eyes tight at the horrible taste and shuddered, however, soon after sat up slightly and placed her head in her hands. "Thanks," she mumbled.

"Don't ever do that again," he said imperiously as he looked at her. Samara raised her head slightly and looked over at him from the corner of her eyes; a sleek brow raised over her hazels eyes. The bleariness in them had dissipated, but he could see the anger simmering softly beneath the warm surface of her brownish-green eyes.

"Unless you can guarantee you won't behave like an… well an idiot as there is no better word for the things you said earlier, I can't guarantee anything," she said, her voice almost coming out in a growl. Severus glared at her, wondering where the hell she came off calling him an idiot, no matter how much he actually deserved it. He was still her Professor, no matter how blurred the lines of their relationship had become; she still had to respect him.

"A little more respect Samara, I _am _still your _Professor_," he said murderously as he glared at her. Samara pulled her head out of her hands and turned to look at him completely. There was a look of incredulity on her face as she looked at him, the softly simmering anger that had been beneath her eyes boiling over once more. For a moment, Severus wondered if he was the only person that could bring out this kind of unbridled anger out of her. He hadn't seen her angry like this at anyone else before.

"Do you even know what the hell you want? One moment you tell me that you want to be nothing more than my Professor, but the next moment you're telling me awful things out of jealousy and pain because you _think_ that I am giving someone else attention. You can't have it both ways, either you want to be with me or you want me to move on!" Samara yelled angrily as she stared into his eyes.

Severus stared her, knowing that she was completely right. However, his mouth had completely gone dry. He knew what he should say, he knew that he should tell her that she was right and that he had no right to have said those things to her and that he really wanted nothing more than for her to move on with her life. That would've been the right thing to do, the selfless and most loving option, but he couldn't bring himself to say the words, because all he kept thinking about was what he felt when he thought he saw Samara flirting with Lucius Malfoy. "You're right Samara, I can't have it both ways," he said as he looked at her. "You're better off with someone else, but I can't stand the sight of it."

Samara shifted in her seat, so that she was once more kneeling and much closer to him and she looked into his eyes pleadingly. "Then forget about everything. Let go of all the selfless reasons that you have for resisting me and just do something selfish," she said as she looked at him. Severus stood up and turned away from her, feeling frustrated, wondering why she had to make things so damn difficult.

"I can't Samara, don't you understand?" he roared as he walked over to one of the bookcases and clutched onto the shelf to keep himself from punching something. He could feel her eyes watching him intently, those eyes that could always see more than was actually presented. Silence hung between them, so awkward and noiseless that it felt like his ears were bleeding with the slightest bit of sound, such as their breathing.

"You're scared, aren't you? You're afraid to fall in love," she stated softly as she looked at him. Severus whirled around, wondering how she'd known and realized that her eyes had turned glassy once more as she stared at him. Her brows were knitted together in confusion, not understanding why he was so scared of love.

"I know the hazards of it and I will not go through it again," he said as he looked at her. Samara stared at him for a moment, blinking as she came to realize that he'd once before fallen in love with someone and that it severely damaged him. It made her wonder a great many things, like who, when and what happened. However, more than anything, she felt anger, because she couldn't be with the man she loved because he was too scared.

"You're a coward," she said simply before taking off far more quickly than he'd expected. Before he could reach out and stop her, she was full on running up the stairs. He followed after her, boiling with rage that she'd dared call him a coward, but by the time he'd reached the landing she'd locked the door of the room and was putting up all kinds of wards to keep him out of her room.

Severus balled his hands into fist once more and this time he couldn't control himself. He pounded on the door once with his fist, before yelling that he was not a coward. However, a deathly silence took over and he guessed that she'd placed _muffliato_ on the room. She couldn't hear him anymore, and Severus doubted that she would have any desire to either. Falling to his knees outside her door out of exhaustion, he placed his forehead against the hard wood door, wondering what the hell he'd just done.

**TBC…**

**A/N: **Snape just keeps acting like a jerk, its not his fault, he can't help it. LOL. Well I hope that everyone liked this chapter, please review! **  
**


	37. Fear Of Heights

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 37: Fear Of Heights**_

He was in hell that much was for sure. It had been three days since the morning she came back and she was spending most of it in her room. Strangely enough, she still came down before meals and made them, but it was hard to enjoy them when they spent them in terse silences, doing nothing but eating. Most of the time, both of them ate as quickly as possible to get out of each other's presence.

For the most part, Samara was only being quiet and distracted. Severus on the other hand spent most of his time glaring at her. He was still angry that she'd dared called him a coward and that was not something that he would soon be forgetting. However, he couldn't stand the silence. It had been days since she'd said anything other than, "Good morning _Professor_," or "Good afternoon _Professor_," or something like that, stressing the word Professor every time.

It had been eleven days since Dumbledore had stopped by to visit and Severus found himself wondering more and more frequently when he was going to find Aurora. He was going to find himself resenting her if this went on for much longer. If she didn't have to go traveling the world and be so impossible to find he could've completely avoided the present situation. Samara would have gone straight to the Astronomy Professor, and he wouldn't be currently on the outs with the love of his life.

Severus looked up from the book he was unsuccessfully reading and watched as Samara walked into the room. He narrowed his eyes on her as she walked past him and sat down on the couch, wondering what the hell she was up to. She sat down and turned to face him, sighing in what seemed to be resignation, her long black hair tied into a ponytail and clothed in simple, dark green robes.

"I've been thinking," Samara started out as she looked up to him and stared into his eyes. "I don't know what happened to you in the past, so it was wrong of me to call you a coward," Samara said, looking over at him. Severus raised a brow as he looked at her, this was what she'd been thinking about for days and hadn't spoken because of? He felt vexed that it had taken her three days to see that she was wrong for calling him a coward, but it was something he simply couldn't take. He absolutely abhorred when anyone at all called him a coward, it made him lose all sense of control.

"Is that an apology?" Severus asked coldly as he look at her.

"Not at all," Samara replied. Severus furrowed his brows, not understanding. "Are you afraid of heights, Professor Snape?" Samara suddenly asked, unbalancing Severus with the complete randomness of the question. He narrowed his gaze on her face, and could see that she was very serious. However, there was simply no way that he was going to admit that he did have a small fear of heights. The type that only surfaced if for some reason her was standing on the brink of an edge of a building that was very, very high or on some other elevated plain.

"How is this relevant?" he found himself asking. Samara cracked a small smile.

"I'll take that as a yes. It's nothing to be ashamed of, but you see people think that they are afraid of heights and that's ridiculous. What you're really afraid of, is not even the falling part; what people are really afraid of is what happens after the fall, when it comes to a stop," Samara said calmly as she looked over at him. "You were afraid to approach love, but what you don't see is that you've gotten past that point and you are already falling. What you're afraid of is what happens next. You're afraid you'll hit rock bottom."

Severus felt the scowl slipping away as he looked into Samara's hazel eyes. He was starting to understand her analogy between the fear of love and fear of heights. It was brilliant. Thinking of any time he stood on the precipice of a great height, he thought of the adrenaline that was quickly pumped through his veins by his fast beating heart and how the rush of the blood made it hard to think over the booming noise of it in his ears. It was like love, and so was what could come afterwards. When love came to an end, it would take your life with it, leaving you as nothing more than millions of broken pieces, lying useless on the pavement to be scraped off and tossed away like the useless piece of garbage it made of you.

Looking over at Samara, she seemed to understand all this; her features softened as she looked at him and tried her best to smile. This was the first time in days that he'd seen her smile and he'd had no idea how much it missed him. Even now, despite his anger towards her for calling him a coward and the fact that she hadn't apologized for it, he felt his heart melting at the sweet sight.

"You aren't a trusting person, and … I understand your need to protect yourself from any more love-induced pain, but I do love you and I'm willing to prove to you that you can trust me from keeping you from hitting rock bottom," Samara said, smiling at him. Severus stared at her, stunned into silence. He watched as Samara shook her head and downcast her gaze. "I'm not saying that there won't be times were I feel utter despair and become impatient, I know myself better than to promise that, but I won't and can't give up on you. Because I know I will love you every second of the rest of my life.

"I know I will make stupid mistakes, my life is one mistake after another, but I know that you will too. But I know that I am more forgiving than you are but… I just want you to know that I love you above all things and for it deserve the same amount of consideration," Samara said as she looked over at him. She smiled slowly and he could see that her eyes were glistening with unshed tears and he hoped that she had every intention to keep it that way. He didn't want to see her cry, especially not because of him.

"Samara, why are you so set on going against my wishes? Why can't you just accept things as they are and leave it be?" Severus asked as he exhaled, closing his eyes before he pinched the bridge of his nose. He felt so weary of this all, she wore him down so continuously that he didn't know for how long he was capable of pushing her away.

"I won't mention what I feel for you after this, I promised you before that I wouldn't and I've only brought it up because you questioned it before. But I also told you that I wouldn't stop being myself. But if you love me and learn to trust me, I hope that it will give you the strength you need to come _to me_," Samara said as she looked at him, before standing up. Severus thought for a moment that she was going to leave, but she bent down and placed a soft kiss on his cheek. "Because you deserve to be happy."

With that said Samara straightened up and disappeared beyond the bookcase, bidding him softly good night. Severus didn't turn to see her disappear up the stairs, but merely sat there staring forward, his hands grasping onto the armrests. Was nothing he ever said or did going to discourage Samara from pursuing a relationship with him?

**TBC…**

**A/n: **Sorry for the short chapter, but I really didn't think that there was much that could be added to this. Anyway, hope you all liked it and will Review! I'll try to make up for this short chapter with the next.**  
**


	38. Little Fantastic Perfections

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 38: Little Fantastic Perfections**_

_Severus groaned as he felt someone shaking him out of his slumber. He felt so tired lately. Slowly, he allowed his eyes to flutter open and found himself staring into startling hazel eyes that were browner than green and were staring at him curiously. Severus raised a brow as he glared at the seven year old child that had awoken him from his slumber who had short and unkempt black hair. "Junior, how many times do I have to tell you to never wake me this early on Sundays?" he stated coldly as he sat up in bed. _

"_Mum says its breakfast time," the little boy replied before turning around and running out of the room. Severus threw off the covers and threw on a simple pair of robes before heading down the stairs. Not taking too much notice of the pictures on the walls as he descended the stairs, holding onto the white banister. It didn't take him long to cross the white-carpeted living room and walk into the kitchen, at which point he felt something small and soft thump against his legs._

_Smiling, despite himself, Severus reached down and picked up the three year old child that was clinging onto his legs. Severus stared into the more-greenish-than-brown hazel eyes of the dark haired child and kissed her forehead as she rested her head against his shoulder. She was the spitting image of her mother at that young age, but Severus noted that she had more of his temperament than her mother's. She was more sulky and quiet than other children, but she was absolutely beautiful, perfect down to every little digit in her still infantile, pudgy hand. _

_Samara had turned around the moment that Severus walked into the kitchen, exposing her rather large belly as she looked over at him with a smile on her face. She'd become a little more hippy than she'd been in her teenage years and her body had more curves than he remembered, but he was still quite fond of every inch of her skin, despite her pregnancy he couldn't get enough of his lovely wife. And she was particularly insatiable these days. _

"_It's about time you got up," she teased as he walked over and placed a kiss on her lips. "Mmm," she said as he pulled away. She bit down on her lip before gesturing for him to take a seat at the table and turning back around to finish serving breakfast. He joined his son at the table, still holding his daughter, who was clinging onto him silently and he wondered if she'd fallen asleep. _

"_What's wrong with Dahlia?" he asked as he looked over at his wife. Samara slowly turned around, tucking a strand of hair behind her ears and her mouth went slightly crooked as she pointed to her stomach. Recently they'd found out that they were having twins, a baby boy and a baby girl and while Dahlia hadn't been too happy about the prospect of having any new siblings, she hadn't been very overly upset about it. At least, not that he'd noticed. _

"_Dahlia, sweety, tell daddy about your dream," Samara said gently as she looked at her daughter. Dahlia pulled away from her father and looked up into his eyes. Her eyes were wide and round, like Samara's full of innocence and always smoldering from within, despite her outward brooding and sulking. She was a very serious child that rarely smiled or laughed, and she rarely cried also. _

_With one of her tiny little hands, she motioned for him to come closer and he bent down. She cupped her small hands over his ear and started to whisper in it, telling him a secret that clearly she didn't want her brother to know. Severus found himself scowling softly as he heard her tiny, soft voice in his ear and watched Junior who was slowly reaching out to grab Samara's wand. Severus narrowed his eyes as he reached out and snatched the wand out of his grasp and whacked the back of Junior's hand with it. _

_Junior smiled devilishly up at his father before getting up and running from the table, laughing all the way as he ran out of the kitchen. Junior looked every bit like his father, except for the nose. Strangely enough, Junior had inherited his Grandmother Eileen's nose. It was something Severus had been immensely relived by, though Samara always assured him that his nose made him look distinguished and that while he wasn't the typical mold for what the world thought of as _beauty_, that he was certainly what she'd fantasized about most as a teenager. Samara always said that Junior would be very handsome and she was glad that he had inherited her sweet, loving, albeit slightly childish disposition. Though, neither one could quite figure out where he inherited all the desire and enjoyment for mischief from. _

"_Ugh, where has he run off to," Samara said as she set the plates of food on the table and walked after her son. To Snape's immense amusement, the twins within her made her so big that all her movements were slow and she slightly swayed left and right when walking. It was something Samara always hit him playfully on the arm for, but he didn't care. "Severus Snape Junior get your butt down here," Samara called out as she left the kitchen. _

_Paying no mind to this situation, Severus watched as his daughter pulled away and looked at him with sparkling eyes, looking for reassurance. "Dahlia, do you know who named you?" Severus asked as he looked at his daughter._

"_Mummy?" she asked. Severus shook his head at this._

"_Mummy named Junior, but I named you and you know why I named you Dahlia?" Severus asked as he looked into her eyes. Samara shook her head at this and stared up at him with her wide eyes. "The Dahlia, is my absolute favorite flower. Now you know that mummy and I love you and your brother equally, and there is always more room for other's, but that doesn't mean that mummy and I will stop loving you because the babies are coming," Severus stated gently. _

_Dahlia smiled up at her father, one of the very few times before she nodded and jumped off his lap. "Junior, I TOLD you I'm daddy's favorite!" she called out as she ran out of the room. Severus furrowed his brow at this, frowning, and wondered how she had twisted what he'd said into him having said that she was his favorite. Rubbing his eyes with the tips of his fingers, he wondered what else his first born and daughter argued about. _

_As a parent, he couldn't pick a favorite, he didn't have one. While he loved his daughter immensely and was kinder to her because she was the spitting image of the woman he most loved in the world, he loved his son just as much. There was nothing that could express the amount of joy and pride he felt when he heard that he had a son. Suddenly, nothing else in the world mattered but Samara and his son, especially not fame or any of the other things that had been his life's ambition. Sure he was a little severe on the boy at times, but he wanted him to become a good man. _

_Samara walked back into the room and sat down on the table, looking a little tuckered out. "Will you do something about your children please? They're upstairs bickering," she said slightly irritably as she placed her chin in her hand. Severus smiled at his wife, before reaching over and placing another kiss on her lips. When she was particularly tired and frustrated, which only happened during her pregnancies, because otherwise she had enough energy to run the whole household by herself, she referred to them as HIS children, like she'd had no part in their making. It deeply amused him. _

"_All in good time," he drawled lazily as he scooted his chair closer to his wife, eyes gleaming. He still couldn't believe she'd married him and that they had two wonderful children and two on the way. "Have you decided what you will be naming your daughter yet?" Severus asked as he placed his hand over her stomach. She wore a very thin set of robes in emerald green and he could easily feel the twins moving about inside slowly, moving up against his hand. Samara looked over at her husband and smiled as she looked at him._

"_Iris," she replied as she looked into his eyes. "Have you thought of a name for our future son?" she asked as she looked at him. As she'd named their first born after him, she'd allowed him to name the second. When they were pregnant a third time, they decided they would compromise, but when they received the surprise, that they would be having two, they each took the labor to name one. This time Samara got to name the baby girl, and Severus his boy. _

"_Marius,"__he replied as he looked at her. He found that choosing a name for a girl had strangely enough been far easier. He watched Samara for a moment as she thought about the name. She hadn't been particularly fond of naming her first daughter after a flower; however, she'd allowed him to name her whatever he wanted as she'd been able to choose the name she most loved for their first born son. _

"_Excellent, I love it," Samara said with a smile as she leaned over closer to him and placed her lips over his. Severus allowed his mouth to mold to whatever she wanted, still relishing in her soft lips and the way that her kisses still sent small shocks of electricity through him. He still couldn't believe the way his heart still raced and blood rushed down his body to feel her tongue brushing slowly and sensually against his, stroking him lovingly and coaxing him to ravish her with the smallest of flicks. Now he remembered why he was unable to sleep lately, she kept him up all night. _

Severus bolted upright in bed the following morning and looked at the tent he was pitching in his lap as he reached a hand to his lips. This was not the first time that a dream of Samara forced him to wake to the embarrassing fact that he was aroused. However, this was the first time his dream incorporated a whole family and made him feel so full and happy that he would have gladly never awoken from his dream.

Propping up his legs, he rested his elbows on his knees and placed his head in his hands. His head was still swimming with the perfection of his dream; it had all felt so real. Waking up to those startlingly brownish-green eyes, picking up the light three year old, kissing Samara and feeling his unborn children moving about inside her, it all felt too real to him. He could still feel her mouth pressed to his and the way that she'd been kissing him passionately and lovingly.

They were all so beautiful, each one utter perfection, even the two that Samara had yet to give birth to. It made his heart flutter at the thought that she'd been his wife, that he was able to call her _his wife. _It was strange, to dream himself in such a situation. To be a father completely seemed something he would never dream of being. It was not something he found not only out of reach, but had never been something that he'd ever desired. His lifelong ambition, was to be somebody, to leave behind his heritage. However, as he thought of the two raven-haired children, whose hair was exactly like his and Samara's, he could think of nothing in life more worth pursuing; no greater ambition.

Laying back down, Severus stared up at the ceiling, not really desiring to rise from bed and wishing he could go back to sleep and relive his dream. However, he knew that wouldn't help. He'd only want it more, and it was not something that was meant to be. NO matter how much Samara set herself to it, no matter how committed she was for them to be together, he couldn't let it happen no matter how much he wanted to.

Fear of love was no longer the only factor, because he had to admit that she was quite right in saying that he was already in love. So whether he was with her or not, his heart was going to break either way. Either he would have to live without her, or he would have lived with her for a few years before the relationship rotted away and he was left with nothing but the continuous yearning to be with her.

Besides, she didn't really know him, how did he know that once she got to know him better she wouldn't turn around and leave? That she wouldn't hate him like everyone else did? Severus unconsciously rubbed his left forearm in thought of what lay beneath, hardly visible but still there for anyone to notice. He was quite sure that it would be there until the day of his death and he couldn't think that Samara would accept him for what he was. Sure Samara was only twelve when the Dark Lord fell, but she was smart and knew enough to know what Death Eaters were and to be disgusted by the fact that he'd once been one of them. There was simply no way that she would not abhor him for it.

Thinking about it, he knew that he would rather be broken because he wouldn't allow himself to have her, than think that she'd grown to hate him. At least that way, he knew that someone in his life had been able to love him, even if it was because they didn't know everything there was to know about him. But to be fair to himself, he'd never really been _that__ man, _the Death Eater. He was now, and he was sure for the rest of his days as well, Professor Severus Snape, the temperamental, unfair, sarcastic Head of Slytherin. Or at least, as seen by others.

_Daddy,_ was simply a dream and he was quite sure that despite Samara's determination, it would never be anything more. No matter how much his heart wished it were real.

**TBC…**

**A/N: **Hope that everyone liked the chapter. (Bren, you got to read about Snape's beautiful black haired babies!) Please leave a review everyone because it was for all of you, though Bren gave me the idea. I'm sure it's not what you meant, but you might have to be patient for that.


	39. Return Of The Star Gazer

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 39: Return Of The Star Gazer**_

Things seemed to go back to some normalcy, despite the fact that every time that Severus Saw Samara he kept being reminded of his dream of raising a family with her. It filled him with such longing that he was quite sure he couldn't contain himself. Often times, Samara even asked him if he felt all right. It made Severus wonder what he was actually doing to make her wonder if something was wrong with him. Far as he knew, he was maintaining the same neutral mask. Did she see something more behind that? Were his eyes not as guarded as they were usually?

Strangely enough, the days were passing quickly, despite the fact that they'd settled back into the same routine. Samara spent most of her time pouring over her textbooks and Severus reading. Samara would make their meals and they would eat together. The uncomfortable silences that had passed between them previously were now gone as Samara brightly smiled at him and made conversation about current events, something interesting that she'd read or something she didn't quite understand and would like him to explain to her.

She managed to engage him in the conversations and meals were starting to last the usual amount of time. He rather enjoyed explaining to her something she had come across in her textbooks that she didn't understand, because it meant that he could distract his mind. There was a lot that Samara didn't seem to understand and he guessed that the way that she learned was by continuously pouring over the same things over and over again until she understood. It meant that her brilliance was obtained much through hard work, and it amazed him that she wasn't too proud to ask for help like most people would be.

"Samara, do you always study from your books before the start of term like this?" Severus asked at breakfast, five days after he'd had the dream. He'd managed to push the dream slightly to the back of his mind by now and was able to look at her without flashing to the pregnant Samara. However, he was having a hard time recalling that she was his student, because this summer had so blurred the lines in their relationship that he hardly recalled them being there.

Samara nodded in response meanwhile she finished chewing the scrambled eggs in her mouth. "It helps me stay on top of things," she replied as she looked at him. She then smiled. "Did you think all the brilliance was something that came naturally?" she asked teasingly and slightly amused. Severus didn't deem this worthy of response. She seemed to know this and didn't expect him to. "I think that being intelligent is something you only gain from reading and studying diligently. Though I suppose book smarts are useless unless you know how to apply them."

Severus nodded at this and thought about when he'd been tutoring her in Defense Against the Dark Arts. For the most part, Samara seemed to comprehend things easily, at least when it came to the practical side to magic. There were however, a few times when she had a bit of trouble and needed extra help, but she was always focused and determined to get things done and she always did. She slightly reminded him of himself at that age.

There was hardly a day in his entire childhood that his nose was not deeply buried in a book in study. He went through all of his books at least once over the summer before school started and he always went over everything that they had learned on a particular day over and over, even the practical. Sometimes, he grew frustrated and ashamed that he could not get a particular charm or spell or hex, however, that only fueled his resolve to get it right more and he always succeeded in getting it.

By the time he was in his fifth year, things seemed to come much easier and he supposed that was because he read many other books on subjects. By the time he was in his sixth year, Potions was so easy that he could think of better and more effective ways to doing his potions and he'd read so much about charms and spell theory that he was able to make up his own spells sometimes. As he watched Samara continue to eat, he wondered if she ever did the same.

"Someone's knocking on the door," Samara stated. Severus snapped out of his thoughts and furrowed his brows, he couldn't have been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't even heard the knocking. He listened intently for a moment before the soft sound was repeated and he looked at Samara's eyes. Was her hearing really all that good that she'd managed to hear it and he had not?

Standing up, Severus left the table in a flourish of robes to open the door and was widely surprised when he saw Albus Dumbledore standing there, though he would never show it. "Good morning Severus, I hope I didn't come too early," Albus said as he lingered just beyond the door as his eyes twinkled. Severus looked at the man's bright, metallic-blue robes that seemed to reflect the bright sunlight and blinded him. Severus quickly ushered the older man in before he was blinded by the suns reflected rays.

"Not at all Headmaster," he replied as he motioned for the older man to have a seat. Dumbledore, once more and to Severus mild irritation, took Severus favorite armchair, leaving Severus to take the couch. He watched Professor Dumbledore for a moment, wondering when he was going to say something, but the old man was pleasantly humming to himself as he picked lint off his suit and listened to Samara in the background. She was in the kitchen, probably cleaning up after breakfast; the soft clinking of the plates was drifting into the room, accompanying Dumbledore's soft humming.

Becoming slowly irritated, Severus tried to tune out Dumbledore's soft humming as the Headmaster continued to smooth out imaginary wrinkles on his suit and busy himself. For a moment, he wondered if Professor Dumbledore was merely waiting for Samara to be out of ear shot before stating his business. However, when Samara walked into the room, he looked over at her and smiled before standing up. "Good morning Samara dear," he said as she looked over to him.

Samara smiled and greeted him as well before hugging him. Severus raised a brow at this, he still didn't understand why they hugged when they saw each other, though, Severus guessed that they only did this when there were not any other students around. It would probably hardly be seen as proper, no matter how innocent. And it was quite innocent, considering the fact that Samara had once stated that professor Dumbledore probably saw her like a daughter, which must've meant that she somewhat saw him as the fatherly figure in her life.

"I have news for both of you," Dumbledore said brightly and cheerfully as he and Samara pulled apart and he looked between she and Severus. "It took me two weeks, but I finally managed to locate Professor Sinistra, she's been in Antarctica for the past couple of weeks."

"What was she doing in Antarctica?" Severus asked irritable, though he was slightly relieved that Samara would soon be with the strange Astronomy Professor. He was slightly annoyed that the woman was hiding out in such a freezing cold place. Did she really want to be _that _alone that she would withstand such extreme temperatures, even if she was a witch that could ward it off some? Samara turned to him and smiled, but there was some disappointment hidden in her eyes.

"_Aurora Australis_, from March to September it is likely that you might see them. It's like the Northern lights, but in the south," Samara said. Dumbledore looked at her with his sparkling gaze, clearly she had guessed correctly the reason for Professor Sinistra being in the South Pole. "She travels around to see the sky from all over the world. She particularly loves the _Aurora Australis_." She then turned away from explaining to him to look at Professor Dumbledore. "When do I leave?" Samara asked gently.

"We are to meet Professor Sinistra in Diagon Alley in approximately an hour," Dumbledore replied. Samara nodded at this, excusing herself and heading upstairs to begin to pack her things. Dumbledore then turned to look over at his Potions Master, who seemed rather uninterested.

"I take it you've found someone for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position?" Severus asked coldly as Professor Dumbledore sat down once more, folding his hands in his lap. Dumbledore tried to smile kindly at him, thinking that Severus was bitter about yet another person taking the position that he so wanted, however, that wasn't what bothered him. Suddenly he'd been hit with the thought that it would be rather empty without Samara in his home. He wondered if he could readjust to that.

"Yes, it took me two more interviews, but at last I came across someone up to the standard. She's a little younger than I would have preferred, though not so young as you were when I hired you, but still young. However, I'm confident that she will be quite capable," Professor Dumbledore replied, with a small smile on his face. They could not at all hear Samara moving about upstairs, however, they'd both heard the distinct sound of her closing the door behind herself and were sure she did so, so they could have some privacy to talk. "Perhaps you remember her from school she was a fifth year when you were a seventh year. Miss Pandora Cross."

Severus stared blankly at Albus. "Doesn't ring any bells," he replied coolly.

"Ah, well she's a brilliant witch, one I won't mind introducing to the governors, which reminds me," Dumbledore suddenly said as he pulled out a letter and handed it to Severus. Severus eyed it warily and noted the Board of Hogwarts seal on it. He had some idea what this was about, but was hoping that he was wrong. He had no particular desire to attend a ball.

_Dear Professor Severus Snape,_

_You are cordially invited to the quadrennial Hogwarts Assessment Ball. We look forward to seeing you in the Hogwarts Great Hall for dinner at six and hope that you will also be joining us for some dancing on August the 28th. _

_Dress formally._

_Sincerely,  
Silverius Blake  
Head Of Hogwarts Board of Governors_

Severus scowled at the letter, reading between the lines. When they wrote cordially invited, they meant legally summoned. It was all easily apparent in when they said _we look forward to seeing you_ and everything afterward. Especially the comment at the end telling him how he was supposed to dress. He'd only been to one of these before in the six years that he was teaching at he wasn't at all pleased that he would have to go again. Though he'd suspected it when it was first told to him that it was a quadrennial thing.

Looking up at the Headmaster, he was about to say something but before he could even open his mouth, Dumbledore raised a hand to silence him. A small smile of amusement was gracing his features. "Professors Hooch, McGonagall, and Sprout have all already tried to wiggle out of it. And I'm sure Professor Sinistra will try as well. And like I've said, it's mandatory, no getting out of it," Professor Dumbledore said lightly. Severus knew that Dumbledore didn't like these pretentious affairs anymore than anyone else, but didn't understand how he could be so pleasant about it.

The Hogwarts Assessment Ball was precisely that. A chance for the Board of Governors and the Ministry of Magic to asses Hogwarts, and of course, it's staff. Severus sighed as he thought that he, and probably the whole staff, would probably be cutting their summer vacation about a few days short to attend the horrid affair. Usually, the Hogwarts staff arrived one day before the start of term, solely for the purpose of getting their classes, offices, private studies and private quarters settled.

All the Heads of House had their private quarters conveniently close to their respective houses. He assumed that other than them, the only teachers that did not have their bedrooms on the sixth floor were Professor Sinistra and Trelawney, who lived in their respective towers. Professor Dumbledore rooms, were obviously near his office as well. For the most part, Severus found that he was situated quite conveniently as almost everywhere he needed to be was in the Dungeons or first floor. Unlike Professor Flitwick who's class was on the third floor, his office and rooms on the seventh, and his students in the tower. Severus yet wondered at why Flitcwick bothered to go down to the staff room, which was on the first floor.

Severus shook his head, wondering why he was entertaining his mind with such frivolity. However, when Samara came back down carrying her satchel he understood why. He was trying to distract his mind from the fact that Samara would be leaving. "Ah, is that all my dear?" Dumbledore asked as he looked at her. Samara merely smiled weakly while she nodded. Dumbledore rose in one languid movement along with Severus, signifying it was time to go.

Severus dropped the invitation on the table and headed towards the door, opening it for Samara and Professor Dumbledore. "I will see you soon Severus," Dumbledore said as he walked pas him and out the door. Samara stopped before him and tried to smile, despite the somewhat solemn look on her face, she felt like she'd been uprooted by a tornado.

"Thank you for everything Professor Snape," she said as she smiled at him. Severus nodded stiffly, which caused her to smile more sincerely. "Cheer up love, it's only three weeks," she said softly teasing, so that Professor Dumbledore could not hear, while smiling beautifully at him. She then proceeded to place a ghost like kiss on his cheek, before turning around and walking away while waving her hand.

He could do nothing but watch on in silence, until Samara caught up to Dumbledore. Slowly closing the door, Severus leaned against it, trying to shake off the misery he suddenly felt. He would see her in three weeks, like she'd just said! Why was he feeling so awful? How did he ever expect to make it through a lifetime, if the prospect of three weeks filled him with such inconsolable emptiness?

**TBC…**

**A/n: **Sorry for already cutting off their summer together, but the story must go on. But don't worry the Seventh year will start in another chapter or two and then there will be more fun, or shall I say trouble. LOL.Please Review!**  
**


	40. Crossing Paths

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 40: Crossing Paths**_

Severus arrived very early in the morning on the 28th to Hogwarts. He wasn't the only one either, when he'd walked by the entrance hall, he noted Professor Sprout was walking into the Great Hall for Breakfast, Professor Flitwick was heading up the stairs followed by all his trunks and Professor Vector was having a heated discussion with Professor Trelawney. Both female teachers didn't seem to get along very well, due that each believed that the other's subjects were a fraud or joke.

To avoid getting pulled into their heated discussion, Severus ducked into the nearest staircase that led to the dungeons, followed by his own trunks. First thing first, he'd headed towards his private quarters. It was a labyrinth of corridors to get there, but where close enough to Slytherin for him to be able to check on them frequently. Unfortunately, for the most part Severus was in other parts of the castle when it was time to check on his House.

His private quarters didn't take long. He used his wand to magically put away all his robes in the lone wardrobe in his room and to clean and make the large four-poster bed. He than stuffed some towels in the closet of his bathroom, picked out his favorite books, leaving the one that Samara had given him in his Nightstand like he always did. He momentarily paused when he caught sight of the parcel that he had yet to give Samara and he wondered if he would ever give it to her.

Over the past three weeks, which had passed painfully slowly he could do nothing but think about what Samara was doing, where she was with Aurora and he felt slightly resentful that Aurora now had all of Samara's time. He missed her terribly and the silence that had engulfed him when she was gone was threatening his remaining sanity. He found himself more often than not thinking up different scenarios if he were to tell Samara the truth about his past, or if he could be with her and keep it a secret forever, or _what truth _was too much truth to tell. Would she understand his love for Lily Evans? Or would she become insecure that if the love he had for Lily was so great to get him to switch sides how could he possibly love her?

He'd been driving himself mad with all those thoughts and trying to think of the consequences of each action. The truth was, he really didn't know how Samara would react to each and every one of those things. He thought that he had Samara's personality pegged, but she always managed to amaze him or surprise him. Sometimes she was so damn hard to predict, that it was simply impossible to try and assume anything about her. Severus wondered if that was just a result of her being impulsive, or if all women were mysteriously hard to figure out like this.

Pocketing the small item once more, he turned and rushed out of his room, followed by two trunks. His next stop was his classroom, where he unloaded quills, parchment, books, ingredients, lesson plans and the likes. After which he unloaded some more supplies in his office, more ingredients especially, before heading up the stairs towards his private study, which was actually on the third floor. There he magically arranged all his books on the shelves in alphabetic order according to author. It made things much easier to find.

When he was done with the arduous task of getting everything ready, he noticed that his stomach was growling and he realized that it was past lunch time and he had yet to eat breakfast and he'd just missed lunch. Sitting down on the couch in his study, he leaned his head back, wondering what he should do. He could always head down to the kitchens, however he was unsure whether he really wanted to or not.

He was not in a very great mood to run into anyone along the way. So far, it seemed that his presence at the castle had gone by unnoticed. He was curious to see who else was already at Hogwarts other than himself, Vector, Trelawney, Sprout and Flkitwick. He assumed that Dumbledore was already there, and Professor McGonagall as well. As Deputy Headmistress she usually returned to Hogwarts at the beginning of August to start sending out Hogwarts letters, especially those that were meant for the first years.

Of course, what he was most curious about was when Aurora was planning to show up for the ball if she wasn't already at the castle and where Samara was. He wondered if she had already arrived like the other Professor's and was planning to stay like everyone else. Knowing Aurora, she probably wasn't planning to arrive at the castle until there wasn't much time before the ball so that she'd have some excuse to be a little late. It wasn't like the school Governor's did not already know she was a bit flaky.

Running a hand through his hair, Severus stood up and decided to head down to the kitchens for something to eat. If Aurora Sinistra had actually returned to Hogwarts like the other teachers, she had no other choice than to bring Samara with her and perhaps he would be lucky enough to run into her. If not, he would do his absolute best to avoid everyone else until later that evening.

As he climbed down the stairs through the mainly empty hallways, he soon found himself arriving outside the Kitchens. Severus sighed as he reached up and tried to tickle the pear. He hated going down to the kitchens for just this reason. It always took him forever to get the stupid pear to giggle… he had absolutely no talent at all when it came to tickling. Usually, he had to stand there for over two minutes trying to get the smallest bit of a reaction. He didn't understand how he was so incapable and wondered what there was to tickling to make it effective.

However, he didn't have to stand there long, for the portrait swung open, causing him to jump back and a very tall witch came out of the Kitchens. She was very thin and had startling bright blue eyes that were staring at him in mild shock when she saw him standing behind the portrait. In lose curls, strawberry blond hair cascaded down past the witch's shoulders and reached the small of her back. Severus guessed that this was the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, Pandora Cross. He had to admit, as he took in her light form in plain navy blue robes, that she was quite stunning in a very classic and typical way.

"I'm sorry, I hope I didn't startle you," she said softly as she looked at him. "I'm Pandora Cross, I'm the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor," she said while extending her hand for him to shake. Severus quirked a brow at this and shook his colleague's hand, though he had no desire to.

"I surmised that already," he said dryly. "Severus Snape, I'm Head of Slytherin and the Potions Professor."

Pandora Cross blushed lightly as she looked at him. "Yes I know, I remember you form school," Pandora said confidently with a seductive smile. Severus had a strong urge to roll his eyes, he didn't particularly like to be remembered from his days at Hogwarts. He had been a very tall, thin and lanky boy. He'd always felt strangely claustrophobic about his own body, like he was limited in physique and wondered why he didn't have more volume. "Some of the other Professors have also spoken about you."

"Charming," Severus said sarcastically. He was mildly vexed that out of all the people he'd run into, he had to run into the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. The one person who unknowingly had taken the positions that had craved ever since he'd first started to teach at Hogwarts. Severus understood why from the start he'd never been given the position, Professor Dumbledore probably thought Voldemort would want Severus to influence the students. However, had not enough time passed since the disappearance of the Dark Lord for Professor Dumbledore to know where his true loyalties lay, despite the fact that Dumbledore had failed at protecting Lily?

"Don't mean to be rude," he lied, because he saw no reason why he shouldn't be rude if he didn't care. "But I really should be going. Nice to meet you," Severus said, before turning on his heel and disappearing into the kitchens. He was aware that for some reason she merely looked at him in amusement, probably she'd expected no less rudeness from the Potions Professor. It made Severus wonder what exactly his colleagues where saying about him, not that he cared greatly. He was just mildly curious. He supposed that it made it easier for him, at least it meant she knew what to expect and he wouldn't have to pretend to be civil.

However, as a few elves came to swarm around him to ask him if they could help him, he found himself wondering why he'd been so rude to her. Sure it was in his nature, but with his colleagues he at least made some sort of attempt not to get them to hate him right away, especially as he would have to be working with them everyday for lord only knew how long. He guessed it was simply disappointment that he hadn't run into Samara. Perhaps he should try to make up for it?

**TBC…**

**A/n:** This was a small introduction of Professor Cross, who will be playing quite the roll in Samara's seventh year. Also to demonstrate Snape's frame of mind before the ball which will be a longer chappy, probably. I might update again later. Please Review!**  
**


	41. Opposites On The Neutral Spectrum

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 41: Opposites On The Neutral Spectrum**_

The dinner had gone by painfully slowly and the elegantly decorated hall was vexing him greatly. The four house tables and the high tables had all been removed. An orchestra now stood on the dais where the High Table usually was. The hall was littered with small circular tables where a mixture of Hogwarts staff, sat with ministry officials and their wives or partners and the Board of Hogwarts governors. Throughout the whole meal, Severus found himself sitting next to the dead Professor Binns, who made no conversation at all, and Professor Cross, whom he was trying to be quite civil to, by speaking to her.

She wasn't actually so bad now that he gave her a chance. She was quite a brilliant witch, which he'd guessed since he'd been told she used to be a Ravenclaw while she was at Hogwarts. She made for quite the interesting conversation, though most of it was about her studies around the world. He guessed that was the reason that he was so entertained by her conversation, it was mildly stimulating and he didn't have to say much.

Auora Sinistra, of course had shown up quite late, probably half way through the dinner, and seated herself at one of the empty tables, with Professor Trelawney. She had grimaced at this, which caused Severus to smirk. He had to admit that she quite deserved it for trying to weasel out of this as much as possible. It wasn't like any of the others wanted to be there, but at least they were responsible enough to show up on time and try and put on a respectable show for those judging them.

Severus had been more than disappointed to see that she didn't have Samara in tow. He actually felt his heart panging much more, though he didn't know why. What did it matter whether Samara was there or not, what he was he going to do if she were there? It wasn't like seeing her was going to resolve all the turmoil that he was going through. Perhaps it would take away the emptiness, but he would still desire to be with her and be unable to do anything about it because he used to be a Death Eater and he was unworthy of her and because she might not be forgiving of that.

After dinner, some of the tables were removed to make a small dance floor where the band started up. "Do you plan on dancing Severus?" Severus turned to look at his colleague, who was actually his height. There was a twinkle in her blue eyes and a smile was gracing her features. There was something so minx-like about her that, in his years as a Death Eater, would have probably intrigued him and made him take her to bed for no other reason than she was beautiful. However, now he was not remotely interested in sex for the sake of it, even with someone so gorgeous.

Yes in his years as a Death Eater he'd indulged in his fair share of one-night stands and illicit affairs. Of course none of them were remotely fulfilling in more than a carnal sense, but just because he was in love with Lily Evans had not meant he was going to live like a monk. After all, she had married someone and wasn't remotely interested in him. But now that he was with Samara and knew that she loved him as well, he couldn't even bring himself to think of anyone sexually anymore. Besides, this was his colleague. He was supposed to respect her. A one-night stand was certainly not to his advantage. "I think I'd prefer a drink before attempting any such thing," he drawled.

"I'll accompany you than," she said as she looked up at him. Severus merely motioned for her to lead the way towards the refreshment table. She smiled at him as she walked past and he followed behind her through the crowds of people. Since he'd run into her earlier, Professor Cross had changed into black dress robes with brilliant blue linings on them that made her eyes sparkle and her hair contrast fabulously against her dark robes. The robes she wore were very form fitted and had a bit of a low collar so that it revealed a bit cleavage. It was something impossible not to notice considering that she'd been well formed.

However, every time he saw the way that the Professor's hair was pinned back, with blue butterflies he was reminded of Samara. He kept picturing Samara when she'd pinned her hair back with the snake broaches and had curled her hair. It was the reason that Severus couldn't stop looking over at Professor Cross, because he kept seeing Samara and how she had looked so beautiful that day.

Actually a bit of Professor Cross reminded him of Samara. She was friendly, though unlike Samara's affectionate and innocent friendliness, Pandora was more flirtatiously friendly. Pandora Cross, like Samara, smiled a lot, but her smiles were more seductive and predatory, while Samara's were for the most part sweet and teasing. They were both brilliant witches from what he could see though Cross seemed single minded and Samara merely overly determined. Both made it surprisingly easy for him to talk to, by sticking to general or academic conversations and he thought both were quite pretty. Though of course, Samara beat her out easily, even if to everyone else Cross might seem the bigger beauty because of her strawberry blond curls and bright blue eyes.

Her beauty seemed something Cross was quite aware of and seemed to like to flaunt. That, Severus thought, was their greatest difference. Samara seemed quite unaware that she was quite pretty. She probably didn't value herself too greatly, considering how she allowed herself to be manipulated by a man. Actually, now that he was thinking about it, Severus had to think that Samara had to be a little insecure about what she looked like if she had allowed herself to be coerced into getting a tattoo only because a guy wanted her to. Though, he was sure she tried not to care about her appearance.

Shaking his head of these thoughts as he and Pandora at last cleared the crowd, they walked up to the refreshments table together. Apparently Professor Dumbledore had gotten Madam Rosmerta to bartend for Hogwarts and had her bring up drinks from the Three Broomsticks. "What will you have?" Severus asked his colleague. Pandora smiled at him.

"Firewhisky," she replied. Severus merely nodded at this and turned to Rosmerta, ordering two glasses of firewhisky. He gently took the glasses from Madam Rosmerta and thanked her before handing one over to Professor Cross. "Thank you," she said as she gently took the glass from his hand, accidentally brushing his hand as she took the glass. Severus didn't say anything in response, merely nodded and took a sip from his drink before looking around. He had no intention in getting drunk at a school function, so didn't see a point in doing much but nursing the drink.

In comfortable silence they both periodically sipped at their drinks while watching people mingling around them and the watching others dancing. It wasn't long before he spotted Madam Hooch, and Professor McGonagall walking over to where he and Professor Cross were standing, probably to get something strong to drink, followed closely behind by Madam Pomfrey, who seemed to be nagging to them about not drinking. He was vaguely aware of Hooch saying, 'Come off it Poppy, it's only a little drink'.

Severus almost found himself amused by this as the trio drew nearer. From what he knew, the three of them had come to Hogwarts along with Professor Sprout and had been good friends. He also knew that, Madam Pomfrey and Professor Sprout had been in Hufflepuff together, while Professor McGonagall and Madam Hooch had both been in Griffindor. He could just picture them as teenagers at Hogwarts.

"Severus, Pandora," the three women greeted as they passed by them. Severus merely nodded towards them while Pandora greeted them with a smile. Severus turned his head slightly and watched the three women as they took their drinks, except madam Pomfrey of course. "How are you…" Severus turned away and tuned them out when he saw that Minerva was going to start a small conversation with Rosmerta. He was only vaguely aware that Madam Pomfrey decided to walk away and watched her progress over to Professor Sprout who was engaged in conversation with the head of the Board, a balding, beer-bellied, older man with maroon robes.

Turning away, Severus turned his attention to the dancers. Professor Sinistra was dancing with a Ministry official looked like Fudge from where he was standing. Severus couldn't rightly tell as he watched Professor Vector dancing with her husband, whom was covering Sinistra's partner from view. "Aurora Sinistra is _the_ Professor Sinistra?" he heard Professor Cross asking. Severus nodded in response to this guessing that she and Sinistra had been in the same year when they were at Hogwarts.

"Are you friends?" Severus asked as he turned to his left to look at her, not at all noticing as Professor McGonagall and Hooch walked away. Pandora looked over at Snape and before deciding to answer.

"We were very… _competitive_ in classes," she replied with a weak smile before turning around. Severus raised a brow at this, but before he was able to ask he heard someone call him by his title. Turning around his eyes widened and he felt his heart's pace quicken as he found himself staring into joyous hazel eyes. The familiarity of the beautifully sweet smile on the small pale face made butterflies rise within him and at long last the crushing weight of his loneliness started to lift. He had a great urge to throw his arms around the young witch before him, but of course restrained himself.

"Samara, what are you doing here?" he asked calmlt, furrowing his brow as he looked at her. Samara cast a glance at the woman that stood next to him before answering it.

"I'm here with my parents," she replied. Severus looked at her and knew that this was a bold faced lie, but guessed the reason why. It would have hardly seemed acceptable to any of the ministry officials or school governors that a student that attended Hogwarts was here because she was currently being chaperoned by one of its teachers. He guessed that she must've been told that if she attended and anyone asked her what she was doing there to simply say that she was there with her parents. He supposed that she was lying to him because she didn't know who the woman he was standing next to was.

"I see," he replied. Allowing himself to get over the shock and extreme happiness of seeing her, he took in what she was wearing. She looked absolutely stunning in her white dress robes. There was a green sash around her waist that seemed to match her eye color and he could tell that she was wearing heels because she now reached up to his nose. Her long black hair was lose and completely, unfeasibly, naturally straight. There was light make up around her eyes that made them seem far greener and had him entranced.

"This is Professor Cross, she'll be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts," Severus said when he found that he was speechless, motioning to Pandora, but not ripping his eyes away from Samara's. Samara looked away from him and smiled at her soon to be new Professor in a friendly way. Severus was then able to look at his colleague. "This is one of the students from my house, Samara Green. She'll be Head Girl this year."

Professor Cross nodded at this as she smiled at Samara and shook her hand. "It's very nice to meet you Miss Green," she said as she looked at her.

"You too Professor Cross," Samara said politely before turning to look at Severus. She then smiled more broadly before she took the drink from his hand and set it on the bar. "Let's dance," she said excitedly as she took him by the arm and started to drag him away. Severus was so shocked as he was dragged away by the determined teenager that he couldn't say no and stop her, nor excuse himself with Pandora. "Excuse us Professor Cross, it was nice to meet you," Samara called with a smile over her shoulder to the strawberry blond that looked a bit taken aback.

"Samara, I don't dance," Severus said as they stopped on the dance floor and Samara turned around to look at him. She smiled once more, her eyes mocking him like they almost always seemed to, smiling brilliantly.

"Do you not know how to. Or are you afraid," she teased as she took one of his hands and placed it on her waist while taking the other in her hand. Severus sighed in resignation and rising to the challenge, decided to dance with her. It wasn't like he didn't want to, at least this meant he got to hold the woman he loved and know that he wasn't dreaming. He looked down at her resplendently happy face. They had a respectable six inches between them, repectables as they were dancing and could have actually been much closer, but he still felt that his face was quite close to hers and it made his heart beat wildly.

He had a very strong urge to pull Samara up against his body and lean his head down and taste her lips once more, because he wanted her to breath into him, and wake him from the stupor he'd been in since she was gone, but his surroundings did a good job reminding him that he could do no such thing. "How have you been the past three weeks?" he asked as he led her, trying to distract himself from his great desire.

"Much better now," she replied. His breath became jagged for a moment, which caused her to giggle. "Though, it's no fault of Professor Sinistra's. She's a bit messy, but I got to see the _Aurora Australis_. It's magnificent," she said, locking her eyes with his. He was holding her waist daintily in his hand. Her hand, the one he was not holding, was relaxed onto his shoulder in a ghost like way, clearly not wanting to place any of her weight on him. "Yours?"

"Honestly? Very… empty," he replied. He didn't know why he was telling her this, he no longer knew what he was doing, but his desire was overwhelming and the fact that the moment was so very surreal didn't help. Here they were, dancing together, him holding her dainty body close to his, and he didn't know a moment were he felt more complete than this. There was no happier moment, and he didn't want to ruin it by being taciturn or reminding himself of why they couldn't be together. He just wanted it to be all right after the hellish three weeks that had just passed. He just wanted Samara.

Samara bit down on her lip and looked at him in pity, though her heart was thundering in her chest and her cheeks were becoming slightly rosy by the implication of his words. "Well I'm actually going to stay at the castle now. After all, school starts in two days. Professor Dumbledore doesn't want anyone other than himself, Professor Sinistra and of course Professor McGonagall to know I'll be here," she said as she looked up at him.

The Head Girl and Head Boy each had their private and very separate quarters on the fifth floor and he guessed that she already inhabited her rooms. He'd never actually been in either of the rooms, but he'd heard that each was equipped with a common room, bedchamber and bathroom. One of the perks of becoming Head Boy or Girl he supposed. "I don't remember seeing you at dinner," Severus said as he looked at her.

"Professor Dumbledore thought that people would question my story of being here with my parents if they didn't see me eating with them," she said as she looked at him. Severus nodded at this, it made perfect sense. However, he found that whatever Samara was saying became less and less important as his eyes drifted to her mouth, which were once more painted a very soft pink color that made his mouth water.

The music that they were dancing to started to evaporate from his consciousness and he was aware of nothing but how perfect the moment was. She looked absolutely gorgeous, and she never ceased to smile, nor did her eyes cease to sparkle as they settled into a comfortable silence while basking in each other's presence. The butterflies in his stomach, his blood rushing and the accelerated beat of his heart made the moment feel lighter and more evanescent.

Reality seemed to be slipping farther and farther away as the seconds passed and the magic of what they felt seeped into their beings. They both felt the danger of what this dream-like feeling could do and both looked away at the same moment. Not quite breaking it down and destroying it, but trying to root themselves better before they committed the fatal mistake of revealing too much to the other dancers or people standing around. They both had a lot to lose if they allowed themselves to be taken by the moment, but Severus had no intention of completely letting it go, because it was beyond his control. It was exhausting for his head and heart to be constantly waging war against each other and it seemed the pain his heart could inflict to get what it wanted was far more persuasive than any argument his brain could come up with.

"Samara," Severus said, causing her to look back at him. There was a strange gleam in his eyes, despite the neutral mask that still masked everything inside him. His gaze was intense and she felt like she was burning beneath it and indeed her cheeks began to burn and fluster. But she did not dare look away, she stared deeply into his eyes with resolve, questioning him lightly with her own. "You look lovely," he stated matter-of-factly, which to her did not devalue the compliment as she knew that this was as flattering as he could possibly be.

"Am I allowed to flatter you back?" she teased lightly.

"Samara… I can't do this anymore," he stated as he looked down at her, causing her smile to disappear. Her eyes suddenly looking hurt. "Don't look at me like that Samara, that's not what I meant. But we are going to take things slow, very slow and very, very careful," he said sternly as he looked at her. Samara seemed to take a moment to process this before she smiled slowly, almost unsure if her mind had come up with the correct conclusion.

"Do you mean…" her question trailed off as he nodded and she beamed up at him, a small little squeal escaping from the back of her throat that startled him slightly. "Sorry, I couldn't help myself," she said as she laughed lightly and turned fuchsia red. She had to look away and fan herself for a moment for being such a dork and actually not being able to contain the squeal. She then suddenly turned to him and narrowed her eyes at him, looking suddenly serious. "I'm not dreaming am I… because I will be raving mad if I am."

Severus almost felt himself smile, but tried to hide it by looking away and trying to scowl. "Would you like me to pinch you so you can make sure?" he asked sarcastically when he turned back to look at her. She was smiling at him with amusement as she shook her head lightly.

"Well I hate to say this, but I suppose if we are going to be careful we should separate now. Dancing more than one dance might seem strange," Samara said as they came to a stop with the dance, which was ending. Severus nodded as they pulled apart, but continued to stand before each other. "Thanks for the dance," she said as she looked at him with a smile and turned to go, however, stopped and turned to look at him. She smiled, but her eyes glinted fiercely. "I'll murder you if you regret this." With that said, she turned around and marched away.

Now there was a knot in his stomach as he thought of how he had just started an illicit affair with one of his students. However, the knot went away when he reassured himself that no one would know. They were going to be careful and he loved her beyond measure, this wasn't about the physical. The worst that could happen was that he could get sacked for it and while he was comfortable with his job, he had to admit that he'd rather be with Samara. The only reason he wanted to be careful was for her sake. But as he and she were both responsible and were going to be careful, what could go wrong?

"Can I have the next dance?" Severus turned and looked at the startling eyes of Pandora Cross. Nodding stiffly, he wondered if Professor Cross gave him far too much attention, but he pushed this off. She was naturally of the flirtations, high-strung disposition, it didn't mean anything.

**TBC…**

**A/n:** Hmmm...I hadn't quite expected this to happen already, but sometimes you just got to go with your writers instincts. Stories sure take a life of their own. Anyway, please Review! I hope you all liked it!**  
**


	42. Insane Women

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 42: Insane Women**_

The following morning, Severus had very little choice other than joining his colleagues for breakfast in the Great Hall. However, as he took his seat, the empty one between Aurora and Pandora, he immediately felt the tense air, almost keeping him from infiltrating his seat. "Good Morning Severus," both witches said a little tersely as he sat between them.

"Aurora, Pandora," he said as he sat down, feeling slightly vexed that their names rhymed. He now had to remember to never say their first names in the same sentence ever again. "How was dinner last night?" Severus asked with a smirk as he looked over at Aurora when he remembered that she had to sit with Professor Trelawney. It was something that caused Aurora to grimace all over again.

"Sibyl predicted my becoming terminally ill, if for once she were right I would be grateful," Aurora said tartly as she cast a side-long glance, which Severus was sure was not meant for him but for the woman that was sitting on the other side of him. Thinking now was not the best time to tease Aurora Sinistra and sensing that there was more than simple competitiveness between the two women he was sitting between he decided to turn away and focus on his food. "How was your summer Severus?"

Severus swallowed the bit of food in his throat and thought about his summer. "Long, you can imagine why," he said dryly, for Aurora already knew that he'd housed Samara for about a month. She nodded at this, wondering how to respond to this as no one other than those who already knew were supposed to know that Samara had spent the summer with two of her teachers, more so that no one would know that she'd been kicked out of her home by her parents than anything else.

"Well it's a new year now," Aurora said as she smiled over at him. Severus merely nodded in response to this. He and Aurora, for the most part, got along well enough. "Are you excited Severus? I doubt that, when are you ever excited about anything but Potions?" Aurora jabbed, feeling a little better as she noticed the look that Cross was giving her as she spoke to Severus. She'd noted the previous night that Cross paid particular attention to the Potion's Master and if she could do anything to be a thorn in her side, she would, even if that meant taking up Severus' unwanted attention.

Sneering at this, Severus raised a sleek brow and looked over at Aurora, thinking that she couldn't be any more wrong. His stomach was still filled with butterflies of anticipation with what this year would bring. However, he was not about to tell Aurora that, no matter how well they got along. Besides, this seemed the perfect opportunity for light sparring. It was one of his few entertainments during meals. "Are you, Aurora? I would have thought you would have preferred to have more time to see your precious southern lights," Severus sneered.

"Oh but Severus, how could I put off being in your pleasant, delightful disposition any longer than necessary. You're just a regular ray of sunshine," Aurora replied, smiling innocently though her voice had a tinge of disdain in it. She cast a brief glance that Severus did not notice at Cross, who was clenching her jaw and she smiled in satisfaction. She supposed the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor had a thing for Severus and thought that there was something going on between herself and Severus to see them bickering like this. It made Aurora smile, despite the fact that she felt nothing at all for Severus and vice versa.

"I thought that you didn't like the sun Aurora, is not that the reason for liking Astronomy? Or do you simply prefer the cover of night to cover your… imperfections?" he asked, not feeling like insulting her too much. Sinistra smirked.

"Oh because you're a beauty queen," she replied sarcastically. Severus shook his head and continued to eat.

"Very mature Aurora, I expected better from you than a first year's retort," Severus said before he dug into his food. Aurora opened her mouth to say something, but found that she was unable to. Severus smirked in triumph before finishing up his breakfast and standing up. "You could have put up a better fight Aurora, all in all, not your best." With that said, Severus excused himself and left the Great Hall.

---

Severus looked up when he saw his door opened and saw Samara walk into his private study. Immediately his eyes narrowed on her, wondering what she was doing, wandering about the castles in broad day light when she was supposed to be pretending to be elsewhere. Gritting his teeth, he wondered if perhaps she wasn't going to be as careful as he had hoped. "Before you jump on my back, I used the disillusionment charm," Samara said as she walked over and sat down next to him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, feeling calmer than a mere moment ago, as he looked at her. He'd been looking over his lesson plans and going over the start of term speech he had to give all his students to remind them of his authority and such. Despite his vexation at Samara for being somewhat careless, he had to admit that her interruption was quite welcome. Besides, his heart was starting to miss her, even though he already knew that she had agreed to be his.

"Believe it or not it's a bit stifling to be caged in one's rooms, no matter how luxuriously spacious or how nice the view is," she replied with a teasing smile as she leaned back on the couch. Severus raised a brow as he watched her apparently getting settled in. "Besides, I thought since we are going to be oh so careful there are conditions and rules we should probably talk about before the school year starts. Sure it sucks out all the romance of the relationship, but thinking things over logically it's better to hammer these things out."

He was suddenly overtaken with the urge to kiss the woman that sat next to him. She was quite brilliant; it was why he loved her all so much. "Very astute," Severus said calmly as he looked over at her, just noticing the plain set of black robes. He imagined it was an old set as she had it patched here or there with different colored cloths. She smiled over at him. "Any thoughts?"

"Well I'm going to be quite busy this year, what with the work load and being Head Girl and as I'm supposed to set an example we'll have to be all the more careful. We won't be able to talk about when, where and how we'll be able to see each other until school actually starts and we have our schedules. Clearly we are going to have to keep up appearances all over the school," Samara went on, sounding like she was speaking strictly business and not at all attached to what she was saying. Severus secretly loved it. "Seems to me that the only place we'll be able to see each other is in here or my rooms."

"Which are where?" Severus asked as he looked at her.

"Fifth floor, have you ever seen the large tapestry with the maze-like design that always keeps changing?" she asked as she looked at him. Severus nodded after a moment. "If you step behind it, you tell the wall the password, which is Pomegranate," she smiled as she looked at him. "And it will let you into a small room where the door opens up to the common room. But it doesn't let anyone in unless I'm there, or so I've been told by Professor Dumbledore. Now I'm sure you have some rules, so lets have them."

"Well I've already given you two, we are going to be very careful about this and very slow. I am only more than your professor within these walls and those of your rooms, understood?" he said very sternly as he looked at her. Samara nodded in response to this. "I hope you do not expect any preferential treatment."

Samara smiled broadly at this. "You mean anymore than the one that you are already prone to give me?" she teased as she looked at him. Severus sighed in exasperation. "Lighten up Severus," she said as she looked at him. Severus turned to look at her and found his frustration slipping away while he thought about how wonderful his name sounded from her voice. He'd almost forgotten it. "So do I at least I get one real date before school starts?" Samara asked as she scooted up closer to him by shifting her body so that she was kneeling next to him and smiled sweetly. Severus stared up into her greenish-brown hazel eyes.

He raised a sleek brow as he looked at her. "That would be entirely too much work," he said as he looked at her, thinking about all the sneaking around they would do, trying to think at what time their disappearance from the castle would be less noticeable, where he would be able to take her that he wasn't likely to run into anyone, how he would get her there and etcetera. All in all it seemed like far too much work. "But I suppose we can," he said, thinking that at least it would finally give him the opportunity to finally give her the present he'd been meaning to give her forever.

Samara beamed at him as she threw her arms around his neck and placed a kiss on his cheek. "When and where should I meet you?" she asked as she pulled away and looked into his eyes. He sighed as he leaned back and thought about where he should take her. He couldn't take her to Hogsmead. Finally he turned to her as a thought occurred to him.

"You think you can make it to the school gates tomorrow night at eight?" he asked as he looked at her. She nodded her head at this.

"Oh crap, I have to meet Professor Sinistra," Samara said as she suddenly stood up and whirled around. Severus looked at her blankly as she paused at the door. "You see I was supposed to be going to see her, but I decided to stop by and see you before I went up to her. Spur of the moment decision," she said with a slight shrug as she smiled at him. Severus eyes glared over at her as his face hardened, feeling anger rise in him.

"Samara you can't continue to be so damn impulsive!" Severus said loudly as he stood up.

"Stop worrying about it. I have to run. See you tomorrow at eight," she said with a smile as she opened the door and ran out before he could reach it. Severus sighed as he glared at the door closed door. He was beginning to see Samara's nasty little habit of running away from conflict. Sighing, he turned around and sat down. He didn't have time to think about that, he supposed everyone had their downs, he hadn't seen much Samara's just as he'd not allowed her to see much of his.

Slowly, he walked back over to the couch and sat down. He supposed he really should start thinking about how he was going to _finally_ give her the gift.

**TBC…**

**A/n: **Well I'm tired, hope you liked the chapter and please review!**  
**


	43. HeartShaped Box

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 43: Heart-Shaped Box**_

Severus paced back and forth at the gates of Hogwarts, waiting for Samara to arrive. She wasn't late, he was just early. Fifteen minutes early to be exact, and currently wearing a hole in the ground because of his pacing; usually not one to pace, Severus found that he was a little anxious and impatient to get the night over with. The entire day he'd felt a rather nasty knot in his stomach that enabled him from eating, thankfully not something either one of his colleagues seemed to notice as Severus spent most of his meals either bickering with Aurora, or speaking to Pandora about Defense Against the Dark Arts and how excited she was that the students would be arriving tomorrow.

The rest of the day he'd spent trying to think of the perfect way to give Samara the present, but he couldn't come up with anything, he was absolutely useless when it came to this romantic stuff. He still did not understand why it was so damn difficult to give a damn present and didn't understand why anyone went through all the trouble. He was making sure that this was the absolute last time that he bought anyone a present and for that matter, the absolute last time he took Samara out, because he abhorred how he felt all day.

He couldn't understand what all the anxiety was about. They were going to go out and eat, that was all! Why was he so…fretful? They'd shared a million meals together already, what made this any different? It wasn't as though they hadn't eaten alone before, alone and out either, because she had invited him to eat at that Italian place in Hogsmead that not many people seemed to know about.

Trying to calm his nerves, Severus stopped pacing and looked down at himself to make sure that he was fine, smoothing out any imaginary wrinkles; he had it pressed, twice, to make sure all the wrinkles were out. Of course he'd opted for wearing all black robes like usual and there wasn't anything particularly snazzy about the robes except maybe the silver cuffing and the intricate silver hem design. Wiping any lint that could have accumulated on his sleeves in the past couple of minutes, Severus checked the time. There was still a full ten minute wait. He groaned softly, wondering what has possessed him to come out so early.

"I'm not late, am I?" Severus whirled around at the sound of her voice and watched as Samara walked over to him. He couldn't respond immediately for all the breath was sucked out of his lungs and the knot that had been in his stomach melted away at the sight of her. She wore robes of silk in a silver color that matched the design of his hem and were lined with white vine patterns. They fit her thin form quite nicely.

"No, your ten minutes early," Severus said as she walked up to him. He noted that her long black hair was held in a half ponytail that was tied with a silver ribbon that contrasted nicely against her raven, silky hair. For the most part her hair was straight, but she'd curled the tips so that it looked quite nicer. Once more she wore light makeup on her face, that it almost looked natural, but Severus could see it. He'd stared at her face often enough to be able to detect the subtle difference.

"So where are you taking me too?" she smiled softly as she came to a stop before him. He could tell that once more she was wearing heals, for the top of her head once more reached up to his nose. Severus looked down into her eyes as he extended his hand to her, so that they could apparate.

"You'll see shortly," he replied. Samara merely smiled at this and took his proffered arm. Together they walked the short way towards the gates and out past the apparition point, which as soon as they crossed he apparated. He was taking Samara to a place that he used to go to, just before he'd become a Death Eater. It was a nice quiet little place, dimly lit but not in a dirty-dingy-dive kind of way. It was more of a sophisticated soft toned place, lit by tiny candles held in spherical-flower-shaped holders that floated randomly around the room, magically avoiding patrons and workers.

Severus looked over at Samara as her eyes looked around the room, enthusiastically drinking in their new surroundings as they stood in the threshold of the place. "Good evening, can I help you?" Severus turned to the hostess who was eyeing them strangely but trying to smile at them in a friendly way. Severus eyes narrowed on the girl.

"Table for two, please," he said curtly, his please a mere formality. The uniformed hostess, who was wearing a plain set of black robes with a white apron, took two menus from the podium she stood at and motioned for them to follow her. Severus led Samara gently through the small circular tables in the room, where people were seated here or there. A soft piano was being played somewhere in the background, accompanying the soft buzz of the other customers talking. Severus never knew where the music came from.

"Here you are," the blond hostess said as she came to a stop and placed the two menus on the small round table opposite of each other. Severus pulled out a chair and motioned for Samara to sit. She looked at him, her eyes alight with amusement while she gracefully sat down and thanked him. "Can I get you anything to drink while you decide to order?" the hostess asked, who often played the part of waitress as well in this small place, while Severus took his seat.

He turned away from the hostess and looked at Samara, the place only served alcoholic beverages and he didn't really desire her to drink anything alcoholic. However, he supposed that he didn't have a choice. He looked back up at the hostess, "Two glasses of Moonlight Silver Wine," Severus said, looking up to the hostess. Moonlight Silver Wine was one of the least alcoholic beverages in the Wizarding world. She nodded with a smile before turning on her heel and briskly walking away.

When he turned back to Samara, he was slightly surprised to see that she was raising a brow at him, though her eyes glistened with amusement as she laughed lightly. "You know, I have drunk quite a bit of Firewhisky before," she said as she looked at him. Severus narrowed his eyes as he looked at her, thinking back to the night that she'd disappeared and he was going wild with worry.

"Do you remember how you felt that morning?" he asked pointedly. Samara sighed, but she couldn't stop smiling.

"This place is wonderful Severus," she said leaning forward as she opened the menu, but did not tear her gaze away from him. "How do you know it?" Samara asked as she looked at him. Severus turned away from her and opened his menu.

"When I was a teenager I continued my Potions study beneath a Potions Master that lived a few blocks away. I used to come in here during mealtimes to eat and study," Severus said with a shrug. He'd spent a large part of his time eating here, mostly because they didn't charge a lot and because he was no good at cooking. At the time, he lived on his own and he simply didn't have the time to waste cooking. This place was quiet, had good food, wasn't ridiculously expensive, and therefore had been the perfect place for him to eat and study.

Severus looked up when he felt that he was being stared at and found that Samara was staring at him in amusement. He raised a sleek brow as he stared at her, but was momentarily distracted by a candle that was slowly floating by, almost like it was about to orbit around their table and passed by behind her, causing a strange hollow around her raven head and causing Samara to glow softly. "You know I've never tried to imagine you as a teenager, what were you like?"

"Much like I am now, only far thinner," he replied tersely.

"So you've always worn your hair shoulder-length?" Samara asked curiously as she looked intently at him. He merely nodded at this. He'd already decided what he was going to order and he looked over at Samara slightly vexed. He didn't want her to focus all her attention on him and tried to divert her attention away by telling her to look at the menu. "I'm just going to get whatever you're getting," she smiled as she looked at him.

Before Severus could point out that the whole point of bringing her out was to please her by getting her whatever she wanted, the hostess/waitress showed up, setting their drinks before them and asking if they were ready to order. Not wanting to waste any more time for asking for more time and trying to convince Samara to order something she wanted, Severus just went ahead and ordered for both of them, meanwhile out of the corner of his eye he watched Samara. He was vaguely aware that she'd immediately picked up her glass of wine and was now staring at it on eye level.

"What are you doing?" Severus asked as he turned to look at her after the waitress walked away, feeling some of the edginess he'd been feeling ease as he looked at her in mild amusement. She didn't look over at him as she continued to eye the silvery, glowing liquid in her glass. It looked like unicorn's blood, or what she'd read about what that looked like.

"What makes it glow like that, it looks like unicorn blood," Samara said curiously as she continued to eye the liquid moonlight in her glass. Severus chuckled, causing Samara's eyes to snap over at him, wide in shock. She'd never before heard him laugh. Actually Severus was quite sure he hadn't laughed in quite a few years and that the only person who'd every heard it before was now dead.

"Its not, it simply what happens when moonstone is liquefied and fermented," he said as he looked at her. Samara merely nodded at this as she proceeded to sniff the contents lightly before tasting a small sip of it. Her face became slightly concentrated as she looked down and thought of the taste. Severus remembered the first time he'd tasted that specific wine. It had a strange taste, unlike anything else in the world. It was too subtle and almost metallic for him to like too much, but it wasn't disgusting or overly sweet or bitter and most importantly it wasn't strongly alcoholic.

Not long after that the hostess returned and placed their food before them. Their conversation flowed more smoothly as they ate. The tension that Severus had felt had completely gone away and once more, like many times before, he found that Samara was very easy to talk to. However, this felt so much different, because she wasn't treading on the fine line of only school subjects and current events, but more personal things.

Their conversation started about the coming school year, to their favorite subjects in school, to their ideas of what friendship should ideally be like, but often in practice was not like at all, to talking about other things that weren't like they should be, to what they were currently talking about, which was what they each expected out of life. He already knew about her ambition to become a Healer, and currently she was waiting to hear what he'd expected to become of his life.

"Well the ambitions I had no longer apply," Severus said simply as Samara chewed daintily on something in her mouth. She raised a brow, indicating she was not at all satisfied with his response. Severus sighed as he sat back, he was through eating and Samara was just finishing up. They were now beginning to tread on the brink of dark waters and he did not want to go there. "I wanted what most people want, power, wealth and fame… it didn't matter how," Severus said dryly as he looked at her.

"Well you're only 27, you can still achieve that if you want," Samara said as she straightened up and looked over at him, wiping her mouth lightly with a napkin. Severus smiled faintly and crookedly at her, causing her to intake breath sharply and her heart to flutter. He was relieved that she hadn't asked why he had not achieved that or why he'd decided to become a Professor and was instead encouraging him, however he supposed that she was missing the point and should point it out.

"I don't want that anymore… at least not since you've entered my life. Well, more like rooted yourself in it quite stubbornly," he said coolly and a little sardonically as he looked into her eyes. Samara smile bashfully as a light tint came over her pale chicks which were currently glowing golden in the soft light of the room. Over dinner it seemed that quite a few candles had accumulated around her, hovering over and around her and causing her to shine more resplendently.

Before Samara could think to say something a busboy picked up their dishes. Severus watched the brown haired youth as he picked up their dirty dishes. Severus merely nodded at the boy, but Samara looked at him and thanked him softly. Severus nearly rolled his eyes when he watched the youth, who was probably about Samara's age or perhaps a year older blushed profusely before taking away the dishes stuttering a 'your welcome'.

Severus wanted to say something snide, however, before he had the chance and probably for his own good the hostess showed up and asked them if they wanted dessert. Severus and Samara both merely shook their heads at this. "All right," she said with a smile shrug as she left the tab and walked away. Severus ignored the tab and looked over at Samara, thinking that he should give her the gift before the night was over and it slipped his mind again.

Once more he felt the familiar knot in his stomach; he still had no idea what to do or what to say. He'd been waiting all night for a perfect opening, but there didn't seem to be one. "Samara, do you remember when we went to Diagon Alley?" he started off as he looked at her. Samara raised a brow, wondering why he randomly brought that up but nodded her head in response to his question. "Well I got you a gift, I thought you deserved it for becoming Head Girl," he said, uncertainly, feeling quite awkward and not knowing how to go on about it.

"You got me a gift?" Samara asked curiously as she perked up. Severus nodded slowly as he pulled out the parcel and placed it gently before her. It was wrapped in regular paper and bound with a cord. Samara stared at the gift for a moment, her eyes curiously gazing at it as she lightly nibbled on her lower lip and wrung her hands together in her lap. "May I open it?" she asked uncertainly as she looked up at him. Severus merely nodded and watched Samara intently.

She reached out slowly, her nimble fingers untying the cord before pulling away the wrapping. Her eyes looked deeply concentrated, probably because she was trying hard to think of what he could've possibly gotten her. There was a look of mild delight and anticipation on her face as she opened the box before her eyes widened and the smile on her face broadened at the sight of the silver, heart-shaped pendant, almost the size of her palm that was in the box.

Gently, she reached and pulled the chain out, holding the pendent in the palm of her hand, her hand weighed down slightly. The silver chain attached to it was slightly heavy itself to be able to support the weight of the heart, which's face was intricately designed with what looked to be a web and the small spider in the center. Samara smiled to herself, as if thinking of an irony while tracing the raised bumps of the spider web and tracing it to the spider.

Samara stared at it and soon realized that there seemed to be a latch holding the pointy end of the heart. Unlatching it, the heart opened up like it had double doors, the two halves of the heart springing open and revealed intricate workings of what one might find in a music box as a soft tune drifted to her ears. It was the most beautiful music box song she'd ever heard and there was almost something mournful about it. Samara felt tears filling in her eyes as she stared in wonder at the beautiful gift.

"Do you like it?" Severus asked nervously, though trying his best to sound calm. He didn't know how to read her expression. There wasn't a smile on her face and her eyes looked like they were teary. She looked at him and he could see that her eyes were definitely glistening with tears. However, there was a look of awe on her face, before she suddenly beamed at him. Samara got off her seat and walked over to where he was sitting.

"I love it Sevy, it's absolutely beautiful and perfect," she said as she wrapped her arms around him. Severus took in a heavy breath of relief as he smelled her intoxicating pomegranate smell. His whole being felt so light at the sight of her awed expression and her immense gratitude, it was like nothing he'd ever felt before. Now he understood why people went through all the trouble. That one moment, when the person saw the gift, was absolutely worth every torturous moment.

**TBC…**

**A/n: **I don't know if I'll be able to update again this weekend, but I hope that everyone liked this chapter Please Review!**  
**


	44. Long First Day

**A/n: **Apparently, according the to new version of OoTP, Prefects are allowed to dock House Points, just not from each other. So I'm guessing that the Head Boy and Head Girl can as well.

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 44: Long First Day**_

After having gone through the start of term feast seven times while he was a Hogwarts' student and six times as a Professor, he found it quite boring. It was always the same thing, sorting, new staff introductions or changes if there were any and of course the usual memos and reminders, such as stay out of the Forbidden Forrest. He was quite bored with it all. Even his old games to try and predict where a student was going to be housed before the sorting hat did had been sucked of any mild amusement it had once had. This year had been no different.

However, he noticed that since he'd started teaching at Hogwarts, since the fall of the Dark Lord, the number of Slytherin students had drastically declined and only just now, nearly six years later were they starting to become normal. He wondered what that was about. However, he didn't have much time to mull silly things over as he made his way along the Slytherin tables, handing out schedules to all the first and second years without word. He had to pause at each and every third year to see what electives they would be taking and then proceeded to pass the fourth and fifth years their schedules.

With the sixth years, he once more had to pause at each and every student to ask the students what classes they wished to continue to take and what check classes they were allowed to continue taking before handing them their schedules. It was a very long and grueling task. What he supposed was lucky was that not one of his students was stupid enough to argue with him about a subject they wanted to take but were not allowed to because they didn't have the adequate OWLs for it.

Severus continued to make his way down the table, giving out schedules to his seventh years. He came to a stop behind Samara, who he noticed was being glared at by Jessica and Marietta. He'd noticed the night before that the two girls were actually making an attempt to speak to their estranged friend, but Severus knew very well it was only because she was Head Girl and wanted somehow to reap from the benefits of being her friend. However, when he'd run in to Samara, she'd told him that she'd told them she was no longer interested in their friendship. As a result, it seemed that Drake Benson, Marietta's boyfriend and the two girls were not going to make her life easy.

It seemed though, that the other three, Nate Matthews, Ethan Christie and Tim Elias were all her friends once more. She told him that she didn't shun their friendship as she did the others, because she thought that she might need them to calm the fury of Marietta and Jessica. Something Severus thought it quite astute, though it bothered him slightly as he realized that the three boys were only going against the other three because they thought having the Head Girl as their friend was much more important than pissing off two girls.

Handing the grey-eyed Ethan, the brown-haired Tim, and the dark-eyed/haired Nate their schedules, he turned his full attention to Samara, who was sitting at the very end of the long Slytherin table, directly across from Tim. Sitting on her left Ethan, who was sufficiently sized enough to block off Jessica from Samara's immediate view and on Tim's right sat Nate. It was like they were trying to created the best possible buffer around Samara to keep her from the glares of Jessica and Marietta. However, Samara didn't seem to take any notice of this as she smiled up at him. The truth was, she wasn't concerned about petty little Jessica and Marietta, and Severus couldn't blame her for it considered how she's handled herself when dueling them both at the same time.

Severus tapped the empty schedule and looked at it briefly before handing it to Samara. All he managed to note was that she had Friday afternoons off, just like he did. Samara sighed as she stared at her schedule as Severus turned away without saying a word and walked out of the Great Hall. He wanted to make his way down to the dungeons to mentally prepare for his classes. Today he had the sixth years, Gryffindor and Slytherin sixth years and all the rest were Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw fourth, fifth and third years, in that order. He always wondered why for his classes he always had the Gryffindors and Slytherins together and the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws together.

Severus turned around as he stood at his classroom door and watched as Samara approached. Arching a brow as he looked at her, Severus then turned away and opened the classroom door, striding inside and followed by Samara, who closed the door behind herself. "I told them I was going to the library," Samara said as she followed him to his desk.

"I suppose you're here to know when my free periods are," Severus said as he sat down behind his desk. Samara merely smiled at him from across from it. "Wednesdays before lunch and Fridays afternoons," he said after briefly looking at his schedule on his desk. He had to grimace slightly. Wednesday morning, before he had the seventh years he had Gryffindor and Slytherin second years. From looking at the schedule alone, he already knew what days were going to be particularly bad, and those were the days more heavily loaded with Gryffindors like Tuesdays and Thursdays.

"I have those off," Samara said as she looked briefly at her chart. Severus nodded at this as he looked at her. "I'll still be helping Madam Pomfrey after dinner on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Apparently I also have to meet up with Andrew and the Prefects every Sunday morning to arrange Patrolling schedules," Samara informed him, sounding rather bored. Severus nodded at this, trying to keep it all in mind.

"What about your Head Girl duties?" Severus asked as he turned his gaze to the silver badge poised on her chest. Samara smiled.

"Other than keeping a wary eye out for students breaking the rules at all times, patrolling during my spare time, arranging patrolling with the Prefects and doing as teachers ask there doesn't seem to be much else to it. Though, I suppose there is more to it than that, but for now that is all," Samara responded simply.

"What are your classes today?" Severus asked as he leaned back on his chair and looking over at her.

"Transfiguration, break, Charms and then I only have Defense Against the Dark Arts after lunch and I'm through with my day. I should be able to finish my homework before dinner," Samara said as she looked at him. Severus nodded at this. He didn't know how he would be able to see her, it seemed that she might have quite the hectic schedule. The only time it seemed he would be able to see Samara other than on his break Wednesday and Friday, was after dinner, but he wasn't too sure he should see her than either. She had to patrol and she had to have her work done and study. He didn't want to be the cause for her to slip in any of her classes.

"We can't just schedule our meetings, with everything going on and things that randomly like to come up," Severus said as he looked at her. Samara smiled brilliantly, her eyes glinting as she stepped forward and nodded in agreement. Severus eyed her for a moment, seeing that she had something up her sleeve.

"I had a lot of time to think about that yesterday," Samara said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out black feathered quill that was silver at its edges. She then placed it on his desk. "I've added my own spell to it. It imitates this quill whenever this one is picked up and vice versa," Samara said as she pulled out another quill from her pocket. This one was Silver with black edges and as soon as Samara had pulled it out, the other quill rose from his desk and positioned itself parallel to its counterpart. "I tested them already and they work, but I suggest you keep it close to blank parchment, or else it will just write on any surface."

"Would it need an inkwell near it to write as well?" Severus asked, eyeing the floating quill. It seemed quite ingenious to him.

"Well it will, but not when it's imitating. When it's imitating it will simply use the ink that I'm using," Samara replied as she looked him. Severus nodded, but before he could think to ask something else, he noted that class time was nearing. Severus stood up and pocketed the Quill, causing Samara's to start to fall, but she caught it and placed it in her pocket. He noted once more her good reflexes briefly.

"You should get to class," Severus said as he looked over at her. Samara merely nodded and turned to leave when a thought suddenly occurred to Severus. "Samara," he called out, causing her to turn around and look at him. "Don't ever use the quill before dinner and don't always expect a response," he said as he looked at her. Samara cracked a smile.

"I was going to tell you the same thing," she said. "See you later_Professor_," she said as she opened the door and walked out to hurry to Transfiguration, it would not be seen well if the Head Girl arrived late for the first lesson of the year.

---

It had been a very long first day and Severus was quite glad that it was over. His first class that day was bearable, but he supposed that was because he had sixth years, however his second class that day was the absolute worst. He had both Slytherin and Gryffindor first years and while he was quite content docking fifty points from Gryffindor on the very first day of classes, he was not pleased that he had to send three students down to the Hospital wing because of one cauldron explosion and than another two for a second.

The rest of the day ran rather smoothly, despite the fact that he took out his anger on unsuspecting Hufflepuffs. He reduced one particular Hufflepuff third year to tears and had her running out of his classroom at the end of class, wailing as she went. Severus found it somewhat comical due to the fact that she'd mildly singed some of her blonde hairs and the ruined edges of her hair flailed as she ran.

He almost always hated the first day of school. Other than teaching, there was nothing very much to do all evening long as students had yet to hand in any assignments to grade. Therefore, he was more than just a little bored that evening while sitting in his private study, trying to get into a book that he was reading. Sighing as he read the same line for the third time, he decided to put down the book and reached into his pocket.

For a long moment, he stared at the Quill, wondering whether or not he should try it. It was eight and curfew was in an hour. Samara had plenty of time already to have finished any assignments that she'd been given and surely she'd be through with her patrol by now, if she'd deemed that worthy of waisting her time on. Honestly, he didn't see the point of the Head Girl or Boy patrolling if the Prefects could do it. Actually it seemed to him that the Prefects had more to do than the Head Boy and Girl.

Twirling the Quill in his fingers for a moment, he at long last reached to a blank piece of parchment on the coffee table before him and an inkwell nearby. _Are you busy?_ Was the only thing he wrote, before setting down the Quill and watching the ink disappear from the page. He smiled to himself when the Quill was picked up and scribbled something else on the page, in what he recognized to be Samara's writing. _Just proofreading my essays, before I go to bed. Want to come over?_

Staring down at the parchment, he felt that he could hear Samara's words in his head and he pictured her smiling. Samara was always smiling. There were rare few times when Samara did not smile. The only times that he could account for it was if she was highly concentrated, very angry, or when she did not feel well, but he supposed that the same could be said about most people.

Picking up the quill in his long thin fingers, he momentarily dipped it in the inkwell while thinking about what to say. The truth was he had no desire to sneak into her rooms, however, he really did wish to see her and he was rather curious about what the Head Girl's rooms were like. _I suppose,_ he wrote down before setting down the quill and made his way out of his Private study.

There were very few people out in the halls. Some of the students he caught in the hallway he sent them off straight toe their dorms and taking off a point for each person. He tried not to run into very many people by dodging behind a tapestry and heading up through a hidden staircase up to the fourth floor, making sure that he skipped the trick step as he went. Once on the fourth floor, he headed to the nearest staircase up to the fifth floor.

Usually the fifth floor was devoid of any people. Occasionally you would see a Prefect of two making their way to their washroom, but there wasn't much up on this floor. Usually if he caught a student up here, he knew that they had to be up to no good. He guessed that the reason that there wasn't very much on this floor was that the castle was huge and 7 stories; there really weren't enough classes for so many classrooms. Severus guessed that was the reason that they used this floor for the Prefects' bathrooms and the Head Boy and Girl private quarters.

When Severus at long last came up to the Maze tapestry and slipped behind it, he thought that the Headmaster and the rest of the Professors put too much trust in the Head Boy and Girl. He didn't understand why they were trusted so much, despite the fact that they were always such great students and stickers to the rules; after all, they were still teenagers. That alone made them all untrustworthy. Besides, all that being Head Girl or Boy meant was that you were too smart to get caught for any rules that you may have broken.

"Pomegranate," Severus said to the wall, the entrance was quite the Slytherin entrance and very soon he found himself knocking on a wooden door. He tried to shake off all the previous, somewhat nasty, thoughts that he'd been having about students that were deemed worthy of so much responsibility. It was more than a bit unfair, considering that usually they were pretty good kids and nothing had ever happened to a Hogwarts Head Student to prove otherwise.

A moment after knocking, the door opened of its own accord and Severus stepped inside the Head Girl's common room. Considering the fact that the room was for one person alone, it was quite spacious. Before a large, black marble fireplace there was a large coffee table and a black couch and two black armchairs, the armchairs standing on each end of the coffee tables. There was also a table and a few bookcases along the walls, and very large open windows. When you looked outside the window, there was a very nice view of the lake. He was vaguely aware of a door at the far end of the room, but didn't pay it too much mind.

"Are you just going to stand there and look at the room, or are you going to sit a while?" Severus turned to the amused looking Samara and made his way across the emerald green carpet. She was in her usual pajamas, sitting cross-legged on the couch before the fire with a couple of sheets of parchment on her lap. "You know it's much warmer up here than in the dungeons. Whenever I was in Slytherin I always had to be wearing something warm," Samara said as she looked over at him as he sat down on the couch. The couch and the armchairs all looked quite plush and as he sat down he could feel how nice they were.

"Where you really planning to go to bed so early?" he asked with a raised brow as he looked over at her. Samara smiled as she placed the essays on the coffee tables before her and shifted on the couch, tucking her legs beneath herself and turning towards him. She set her hair lose before responding, shaking out her hair and closing her eyes. He supposed that it really had to be tiring to have your hair tied up all day long and must feel quite nice to set it lose of restraints.

"It was a long day," she said as she settled her hair and looked at him. "Professor McGonagall and Professor Cross both gave some very long essays for homework, but Professor Flitwick merely asked us to read from our books and summarize what we read. A couple of Gryffindor fifth years gave me a hard time, which was strange because I've never had any problems with Gryffindors. I had to take off points. I suppose it's just an authority figure thing." Severus smirked in response to this, earning himself a sharp jab to the chest. "Well how was your day Mr. Smirk-A-Lot," Samara teased, seeing how amused he was by her tough day.

"More stressful than yours, I can assure you," Severus said as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He felt Samara gazing at him, but he did not wish look over at her and see the expression on her face. He supposed, with the silence that followed that perhaps he had offended her by stating that his day had been tougher than hers. However he soon felt a pair of thin hands kneading into his shoulders.

His eyes snapped open and he turned to look at his side to see that Samara was no longer sitting there. Looking behind him, he noticed that Samara was standing behind him, her hands on his shoulders, causing such a delicious pain in his being at he felt soreness leaving his muscles. Momentarily, he wondered how he had not heard her get up and walk behind him, but remembered after a moment about how light on her feet she was. "What are you doing?" he asked, stifling the urge to moan in relief as she continued to move her hands on his shoulders, anything her fingers touched magically relaxing.

"Stress causes muscle tightness, usually around the neck and shoulder muscles. You said you had a long day, I thought it might help," she smiled, before leaning over and placing a kiss on his brow. Severus stared up at her eyes for a moment, which were reflecting the fire in the fireplace behind him. She surprised him so; everything she did was a constant surprise to him. He didn't understand why there were times when he didn't understand her at all, why he could never anticipate her moods or actions. However, he didn't ever feel so loved before this very moment and it was all because of something so tiny, yet very considerate.

**TBC…**

**A/n: **BTW, sorry about taking a bit longer than the usual to update. I had to give my poor wrists a break. Anyway, I hope that you all enjoyed the chapter and I will update again soon. **  
**


	45. Just Plain Unlucky

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 45: Just Plain Unlucky**_

Severus joined the rest of the staff the following evening after dinner for the first staff meeting, knowing what this was about, but not feeling the usual knot in the pit of his stomach. Instead, his mind was still wandering back to the last class of the day he had, the Gryffindor and Slytherin fifth years and feeling mad with jealousy. He didn't know that Bill Weasley had become a Prefect, which obviously meant Bill would be spending more time with Samara this year. He wondered for a moment as he leaned against a wall, for there were not enough chairs in the teachers' lounge, why Samara hadn't told him about it.

"What do you think the meeting is about?" Severus turned to his right to see Pandora standing next to him. He turned away, not wanting her to think that he was glaring at her, but at the moment he was really not in the mood for any of this. He didn't want to be at the staff meeting, for there was someone else he'd much rather stalk down and confront. However, he pushed these thoughts away and tried to regain some of his coldness, despite the fact that he was burning with white hot jealousy.

"The same thing the first staff meeting is about every year, electing a Professor to teach the seventh years about proper conduct at school while also educating them for the future when it comes to sexual relationships," he responded dryly through clenched teeth as Professor Dumbledore stepped into the room with Professor McGonagall. He noted the look of amusement on Dumbledore's face as he walked in, while Professor McGonagall looked like she'd sucked on a Lemon.

"I suppose a meeting is held because no one ever volunteers," Pandora said, sounding mildly amused. Severus merely nodded in response and Dumbledore and McGonagall stood side by side and faced the rest of the teachers. The Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress always had to appear the united front, even though everyone knew that Professor McGonagall did not approve about teaching their students about sex, much less if she had to do it.

Dumbledore smiled at his staff as his eyes twinkled and he brought his hands together. "Now we all know why we are here, with the exception of Professor Cross," Dumbledore said, smiling over at the woman that Severus was standing next to. "Every first Friday after lunch someone on the staff has to perform the sex education lesson to our seventh years, to prepare them for when they have left Hogwarts and decided that they are ready for that next step in their relationship," Dumbledore explained as he looked over at her. "While here at Hogwarts we do not at all condone the behavior between the students and is punishable by expulsion, I believe that it is imperative that they know before stepping out in the world. Many of our students come from muggle homes and have no idea about the magical protections that we use in our world. Care to volunteer Professor Cross?"

Pandora laughed bewitchingly for a moment next to him. "I'm sorry Professor Dumbledore, but I don't think so," she replied. Dumbledore sighed as he looked hopefully at the rest of his staff. Severus gritted his teeth, wondering why they had to go through with this every year, no one ever volunteered. He remembered when he was a seventh year himself, the great speech was given by Professor Flitwick, whom had giggled incessantly throughout the whole thing and actually had them try to cast the Anti-contraceptive charm, had handed out instructions and ingredients of basic Anti-contraceptive potions and given them lists of those potions that were sold on the market.

Quite frankly, Severus didn't see the point of these lessons. If these students were at all interested in this, they should ask their parents. If they were from muggle homes and were so interested, there were books and books for sale on the topic. However, as he thought about Samara and what had happened to her the previous year, he supposed that there was a good reason for it and wondered why they didn't start teaching them in their sixth year or fifth.

"Anyone else would like to volunteer?" Dumbledore asked hopefully, looking around the room. Several Professors shifted about uncomfortably, some dropped their gazes or coughed nervously. Dumbledore sighed as he turned to McGonagall, whom handed him a hat upside down. Severus guessed that the hat had already been stuffed with all their names on it and he watched as Dumbledore reached inside, moving the papers about for a moment before pulling one out.

In the past five years that Severus had been working there he'd been lucky enough to never be chosen. He remembered quite well that the first year he taught there, the teacher selected had been Professor Vector, the following year Professor Sinistra and then Madam Hooch. For the past two years in a row, the uncomfortable Professor McGonagall had been unlucky enough to teach the seventh years.

Severus glanced over to the Deputy Headmistress, who had turned chalk white. For such a conservative witch, she absolutely dreaded this. He smirked as he watched the Head of Gryffindor. He'd snuck down once, the second year that she'd given the lesson and noted that the woman could turn quite the shade of red. Throughout the lesson her voice was an octave higher than usual. She was particularly in a fouler mood during that lesson than he'd ever seen her before and he wondered how many of the students she had given the lesson to really felt like trying to have sex afterwards.

However, he didn't think much on this as the Head of Gryffindor reminded him of a certain Gryffindor Prefect. The boy was popular, smart and judging by the way all his stupid little classmates, even some of the Slytherin girls, looked at him he was a handsome boy. He was tall and thin with long locks of red hair that he had tied up in a small ponytail. Before this year, Severus didn't have much against the Weasley kid other than the fact that he was a Gryffindor and that was reason enough to treat him as such. However, Samara had dated him, TWICE! It must mean that she felt something for the boy and it did make him feel quite furious.

"Severus," Severus looked over at the Headmaster when he heard his name called out and suddenly felt every teacher turn to look at him after sighing in relief. For a very long moment, he stared at the Headmaster before his eyes wandered from Dumbledore's amused blue eyes to the slip of paper he held in his very long fingers. Severus scowled as he strode forward and nearly snatched the paper in Dumbledore's hands and looked at the name. His grimace only increased as he stared at his name and turned the paper over, hoping that there was another name on the back or something, not able to believe that he'd run out of luck and it was at last his turn. "Well, that's all."

Standing there slightly stunned while still staring at the paper, he was vexed as the rest of the Professors stood up and started to leave the teacher's lounge. He was aware of Madam Hooch, and Aurora both patting him on the back, while giving him sympathetic looks. Professor McGonagall looked relieved as she patted him on the arm with a somewhat encouraging smile before turning to go. "Professor Dumbledore…" Severus started to say as he looked at the man.

"Here are the flyers that you must give to Samara to have them hung up in Common rooms," Dumbledore merely said as he smiled at him before turning to walk out of the room. Severus held onto the flyers, feeling his hands balling into fist as he stared down at them. All they said was that a special, mandatory lesson was to be attended by all seventh years in the Great Hall on Friday after lunch and that they were free from the other classes that they might have. Severus assumed that they were also supposed to inform all their seventh years so that they would all be present on Friday.

"Tough luck, Severus," Severus turned and glared at Pandora, who was the only other person in the staff room with him now. "If you want I can help you with the lesson, I don't have classes on Friday afternoons," Pandora said as she offered him a friendly smile, her blue eyes sparkling wonderfully. Severus eyed her suspiciously for a moment as he arched a brow, wondering why she was offering to help him.

"What do you want in return?" he asked as he looked at her.

"After Dumbledore hired me I asked him if I could initiate a Dueling Club, and we've been debating on it back and forth. He suspects we'll have a large response from the student body and that I won't be able to handle all the responsibility, but I think he'll allow it if another teacher co-sponsors it," Professor Cross said as she looked at him.

"And you would like me to co-sponsor?" he asked as he looked at her, considering the deal that she was offering. She merely nodded in response. After a moment, he smirked at the Professor with wonderfully strawberry blonde hair, thinking her quite the clever minx. However, he felt that he was getting the better end of the deal. "All right, but you have to explain the whole process and the charms and answer all questions. All I'll help by reminding them of the rules."

"All right," she smiled as she looked at him and headed towards the door. "I think that sounds fair, they seem more likely to listen to you than to me," She said as they both stepped out into the hall. "You have yourself a deal," she said, turning to him once they were outside and extending her hand for him to shake. Severus smirked once more as he shook her hand.

"Professor Snape, Professor Cross?" Severus and Pandora both turned and watched as the Head Girl approached them, surveying them curiously. The smile on her face, compared to the other's looked a little stale, but Severus was sure this went by unnoticed by Professor Cross, who hardly knew Samara. Samara's eyes, which Severus had always thought, saw too much, looked much sharper and intense at the moment, however, quickly turned into their normal twinkling.

"Hello Miss Green, how is the essay going?" Professor Cross said as she smiled down at her student. She had yet to have a feel for very many of her students and she couldn't get read a off of Samara Green yet. In her class, she'd been very quiet, but Cross knew that had nothing to do with her being shy. She obviously knew that Samara was a good student and abided by the rules, because she was Head Girl, but other than that she couldn't make her mind up about her. She seemed like a good, friendly and polite girl, but Professor Cross didn't think that was all there was to her. Of course, she could have just been judging the girl because she was in Slytherin, something she was trying hard not to do.

Samara turned her hazel gaze to the Professor that was not glaring down at her currently. She wondered what the hell was wrong with him now. "Very well, I finished it yesterday," Samara smiled brightly, trying to sound friendly. As far as she was concerned, Professor Cross seemed like a fair Professor. "You know Professor Cross, you may call me Samara, everyone calls me Samara," Samara suggested politely.

Professor Cross merely nodded at this and smiled at the seventeen-year-old. "Professor Dumbledore would like these in the common rooms of every House," Severus said as he held out the flyers to Samara. Samara turned her gaze to Severus and eyed him as she took the papers and looked down at them. She wondered what she had done recently to make him mad at her, because clearly he wasn't happy with her at the moment.

Frowning slightly, she tried to pretend that she was paying attention to the flyer. "We're having a mandatory, _special_ lesson on Friday afternoon?" Samara asked with a grimace as she looked up at the two Professors. Severus and Pandora both merely nodded in response. She looked over at Severus, who was still glaring at her and supposed that if he was going to be mad at her like this until Friday than it was just as well. Though for the life of her she didn't understand why he was so mad at her. She hadn't talked to him since he'd left her rooms last night! She hadn't done anything to him.

"What's wrong Samara, not excited?" Professor Cross asked. Samara turned to look at the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor and smiled weakly at her.

"Well I didn't have any classes that afternoon and was looking forward to some alone time," Samara replied as she looked over at Severus. He merely quirked a sleek brow as he looked over at Professor Cross, who was staring at Samara like she was trying to puzzle her out. However, she then suddenly turned to look at Severus.

"Well I should be going, I have lesson plans to work on. Thank you Professor Snape, and I'll see you tomorrow morning Samara," Professor Cross said. Samara turned to her and smile, nodding her head and Severus wished her a good night before she turned around and walked away. For a long moment, they both remained silent and watched as Professor Cross made her way down the hall and around the corner before at long last turning to look at each other. Before Samara could even think to ask what was wrong with him, he had stepped closer to her.

"Why didn't you tell me Weasley was made a Prefect?" Severus asked in his murderous tone as he stared down at her. "You must've known since you ran into them at Diagon Alley." Samara looked slightly confused at this.

"Why would I tell you?" Samara asked slightly confused before she realized that he had to be jealous again. The sudden realization made her try and smile at him. "Are you worried that there might be something there? You're silly, you know that. You're the love of my life, there will never be anyone that can compare to you," she said as she smiled up at him. Severus crossed his arms over his chest and pulled away from her, continuing to glare at her. He was still angry and couldn't shake it off, though he thought that had a lot more to do with the fact that he didn't want her to see his insecurities. He hated that. Samara sighed as she saw that his mood was persisting. "Come to my room's later, sour puss. I have to take care of these," Samara said as she turned away and made her way down the hall.

---

Severus sat in his office and watched as the black quill rose and scribbled on the blank sheet of parchment it had been resting on. _Where are you? Are you coming?_ Severus stared at her writing for a moment before picking up the quill in his hand. The truth was he was angry, very angry and he didn't want to be around her like this. He didn't think that he'd be able to control himself and he didn't want this thing to get any bigger than it already was.

_I'm not jealous, Samara. I'm angry that you didn't tell me. Let me get over this alone, I will see you tomorrow,_ Severus scribbled quickly. He then set down the quill and placed his head in his hands, wondering why this was being such hard work when they barely started. However, he supposed it was him, it was all him. He had no reason to be jealous about the Weasley kid, not if he trusted Samara and knew that she loved him. However, he was still somewhat unsure as to whether or not he could really trust her not to break his heart, though she'd never given him reason to believe that she would.

Looking up somewhat surprise, he watched as the quill started to scribble something. However, he then scowled to himself. This was Samara after all, he couldn't imagine that she would have let it go so easily._Severus, don't be like that. I didn't tell you because it slipped my mind at first and I didn't think that it was important. _

_Fine Samara, but that doesn't make me any less angry with you,_ Severus wrote down before dropping the quill. Why couldn't he just be honest with her that he was jealous? She already knew that he was jealous and it wasn't exactly something to be ashamed of.

_Damn it, Severus why do you make things so damn difficult? I only want _you_ and no one else. Get it through your thick scull of yours!_ Severus glared at the parchment, as the quill dropped. He sighed as he ripped up the parchment and threw it in the fireplace before heading to bed. He wondered if this first week of their dating was any indication of what they were going to be like and hoping for both their sakes that it wasn't.

**TBC…**

**A/n : **Well I hope you all enjoyed the chapter of course Severus is wrong! Anyway, please review!


	46. Thorny Lessons

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 46: Thorny Lessons**_

Severus understood, perhaps a little too late, that he'd pissed off Samara. On Wednesday, the only time that they had free for each other was during the break they both had just before lunch. He didn't realize throughout the entire Potions lesson that she was cross with him, mainly because she seemed her usual cheerful self while talking to Ethan and Timothy. However, when she took off straight after class with them, Severus had to surmise that something was wrong. After all, she had Potions just before their break, she should have stayed behind.

He wasn't quite sure if she was still mad at him Thursday as he didn't have a chance to see her then either, other than in Double Potions, were once more she was the same with her two friends as she usually was. He thought that her scuttling out of class quickly may have been simply because she had to get to dinner and then head to the Hospital Wing once more to help Madam Pomfrey as she had the previous evening.

However, as he and Professor Cross watched all the other students exit the Great Hall after Lunch, Severus realized that perhaps she was a little more than mad at him. Standing up from his place at the High Table, Severus watched as Samara and Andrew made sure that the hall was empty of all students that were not seventh years and closed the Great Hall doors after most of the teachers had exited. Slowly turning his gaze away from the Head Boy and Girl, he watched as Professor Cross arranged a couple of rows of chairs to seat all the students before the dais, where she and Snape were now standing on.

"Ready?" Professor Cross asked with a smile as she looked at the Potions Master. Severus merely shrugged with disinterest as he turned to look at all the seventh years, that were now gathering around and taking up seats, all staring up curiously as Snape and Cross. Severus gritted his teeth together as he glared at all the seventh years, that were murmuring amongst themselves, probably wondering what this was all about. Severus turned away from the students and looked over at the Head Girl and Head Boy, both where hanging at the back of all the seated students, neither one of them in a seat.

Severus narrowed his gaze on Samara, who was looking at him with an arched brow, her jaw set and her mouth twisted in a narrow smile. Oh yeah, he was definitely in trouble. Turning away from her, he looked at all the students and glared at them. "Stop fidgeting and sit still," Severus barked out at them, causing them all, to immediately stop what they were doing. "I have been assigned the unpleasant task of informing you about… sexual intercourse," Severus said in his most velvety and dangerous tone, while internally shuddering at the end of his sentence.

Several students choked, some giggled, some blushed, while almost all of them were completely horrified despite the different ranges of reactions. Severus glared at them all for a moment, immediately causing them all to become quiet once more. He cast a small glance over at the two students standing at the back of their classmates. It seemed the Head Boy had gone rather pink, while Samara looked very amused. Her eyes were mocking him again, and this wasn't their usual benevolent mocking either, and he guessed that it was simply because she was angry with him.

"Professor Cross, has graciously agreed to assist me and you will all be completely silent, while Professor Cross is lecturing and all questions should be referred to her at the end of the lecture," Severus continued coldly as he glared at the faces of his students. He could see many of his Slytherin boys smirking, and quite a few Gryffindors as well, but they all seemed to have their rapt attention paid to Professor Cross. It was something Severus didn't care for was he stepped aside and allowed her to step forward.

Pandora looked over at Severus and smiled at him before turning to look at all the faces that were staring at her. "Now I'm not here to educate you about how sex works or the anatomy of your bodies and that of the members of your opposite sex. I think it is safe to assume that most of you know your own anatomies and have some concept of how children are conceived and you can figure it out on your own when the time comes. However, as sex frequently results in the creation of children, we are here to teach you prevention of that if you are not ready to have a child," Pandora said with a smile as she looked at all the faces of students looking at her.

Many girls were blushing quite furiously, many boys still booked horrified, while others were paying her too close attention. Pandora of course, had noticed that the male population of Hogwarts was quite taken with her; it was something that she saw with some small pleasure. However, she was more interested in a certain Potions master. "Of course, it is encouraged that you only take that next step when you're ready and have found the right partner," she said, casting a glance at Severus and watching him as he glared at the seventh years.His surly atitude deepyly amused and enraptured her.

Smiling she turned around to look at the seventh years as she continued, "But there are many Contraception Potions for sale and some very basic potions that you can take," she said, as she pulled out several sheets of parchment. "Samara, Andrew, will you please hand these out?" she asked.

Severus watched as Samara and Andrew stirred from their sentinel-stances and made their way to the front. Professor Cross divided the stack in half and watched as Samara and Andrew handed them out to their classmates. "On there, there is the basic Contraceptive potion ingredients and how to make it, but for those of you not skilled at potions, there are plenty for sale and there is a small list there. Many of them are different, and you have to read the labels to see how long they last.

"For example, like the charm, there are some potions that you have to take every time you engage in sexual intercourse," Professor Cross said, causing certain people to giggle.

"Five points from Hufflepuff Miss Dobbins, I told you all to be SILENT," Severus snapped at the mousy brown-haired girl that had giggled. She blushed furiously as everyone turned to momentarily look at her as she nodded her head silently. Severus gritted his teeth as he looked at Professor Cross and nodded for her to continue. She merely smiled at him in amusement, seeing that the Head of Slytherin was clearly too vexed to be here and was certainly going to make sure that no one stepped out of line in the least.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Severus watched as Samara and Andrew both returned to their posts at the back. He turned away from Samara when he caught the way that she was shaking her head in disapproval at him and looked at his colleague instead. Professor Cross flipped a couple of curls of her strawberry blond hair over her shoulder as she continued. "There are some potions you can take once a month, other's once a week, but of course for those you have to read the bottle for the instructions," Professor Cross stated, smiling.

"The Contraceptive Charm is also on there and is a very simple spell and completely reliable. It is a non-verbal spell that can be cast at any point before intercourse and the charm lasts up to twenty-four ours, but it should never be cast after intercourse, or you might have to make a trip down to St. Mungos," Professor Cross said. "Now does anyone have any questions?"

Severus watched warily all the hands that went up in the air, some shooting up, while others timidly raised. "Keep in mind all questions must pertain to the lesson and cannot be about Professor Cross or about the mechanics of Sex and body parts," Severus said coldly, causing several hands to go down. Severus glared in annoyance to the Slytherin boys and mentally reminded himself to punish them, they were honestly an embarrassment to Slytherin.

Pandora smiled over at Severus before turning her look to one of the Ravenclaws. "Yes Diana?" she asked the curly, raven-haired girl in Ravenclaw. On either side sat her two friends, both whom were blond and in her house. Pandora had a feeling this question really wasn't from Diana as Diana seemed disinclined towards the male population in general and wondered if either of her friends had put her up to asking. Diana was after all, more bold than the girls sitting on either side of her.

"What if you forget all about the charm, but you don't want to have a baby?" Diana asked, sounding bored.

"There are day after potions that you can take, and even some teas, that will keep you from becoming pregnant," Professor Cross responded.

"What if it isn't the day after?" came a call from the crowd from someone who had not raised their hand, but it was a girl from the sounds of it.

"Well if you are in your first trimester of pregnancy there are magical abortions. But it is always best to see a Healer about these issues," Professor Cross responded. Severus cast a glance to the back of the seventh years to where Samara was standing. Her gaze was directed to the floor and she was staring at it unblinkingly. He face was drawn in a very serious and contemplative expression as tears seemed to be gathering in her eyes.

"Are there potions that elongate the member?" one of the boys called out. Severus snapped his gaze over, feeling a nasty knot in the pit of his stomach to have seen Samara looking so miserable. He wondered why he hadn't thought about how she was never going to forget her unborn child and how this meeting might affect her. He should have known that abortion or something like it would remind her of last year's unfortunate circumstances.

"All right question and answer time is over now," Severus snarled as he glared in the general direction where the Gryffindor boys were sitting at. "And that will be fifty points from Gryffindor," he added as he narrowed his eyes on them, causing them to grimace and complain slightly. He then turned to the rest of the seventh years. "It is not condoned for you to have sex while you're students here, any students that are caught in a compromising position will be expelled. Is that understood?" Severus said icily as he looked at all of the students.

The hall had gone morbidly silent as they students all nodded their heads. "Very well you are dismissed," Severus said as he got down from the dais and strode over to the Gryffindor seventh year. He was a tall, think gangly boy with dark brown hair and honey colored eyes. He could hear the sound of students scuffling to get out of the hall as soon as possible and was aware that the Head Boy and Girl were helping Cross return the hall to order. "Williamson!"

"Yes sir?" Eric Williamson asked as he turned to look at Severus. The boy was not amongst his favorite students. He'd heard somewhere that he had aspirations to become an Auror, and while he was sure that he had the grades for it, he was always getting into trouble. Williamson was one of the students whom annoyed him most, because he liked to act up in his class and wasn't one to be intimidated. Severus thought it was simply Gryffindor foolishness.

"Tomorrow, you will report to Detention with Mr. Filch, is that understood?" Severus snarled at the boy. The boy merely nodded at this. "Get out of my sight," Severus said through gritted teeth. Williamson turned about and scuttled away.

"Are you all right Samara?" Pandora asked. Severus turned around to see that Pandora was talking to Samara who looked a little distracted. Severus turned away and started to make his way out of the hall as he heard Samara give a very weak response that sounded like her saying that she was fine and needed to go do homework. Severus felt any of his anger that could have remained dissipate as he waited slightly outside the Great Hall for Samara to walk by.

He wasn't standing there too long before she walked past him towards the front doors. "Are you all right?" he asked as she paused as she was about to walk past him and looked over at him.

"I'm fine," she said as she turned to go. Severus walked along side her as she made her way through the Entrance hall towards the doors, wondering where she was going. "Stop following me," she said as she turned to glare at him and quickened her pace. Severus breathed in deeply in exasperation as he made his strides match hers. "I said stop," Samara said angrily as she glared at him. He wondered if it was going to be necessary for him to apologize to her and grimaced.

"I'm sorry Samara," he said. She, like always, did not react as he had expected her to. She sneered at him.

"Well I don't really care at the moment," she said as she marched away, leaving him standing quite stunned. After recovering, he followed her outside, thankful that there were not any students in the hall, watching him _practically_ chasing after her. Of course he was being a little dramatic by saying that. She couldn't really walk away from him, thought she could walk quite fast. He had the advantage of being, not only a fast walker, but of having long legs.

"Samara I apologized what more do you want?" he asked as he walked along side of her. She seemed to resign herself to being stalked by him and wasn't walking hurriedly, however, she refused to look over at him.

"You know an apology isn't always enough," she said through gritted teeth as they walked.

"What do I have to do, give you roses?" he asked sarcastically. Samara stopped and looked at him, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Fist of all, I hate roses. They are obnoxiously, perfectly beautiful and overrated. Second of all, you're going to have to come up with something much more imaginative than the typical, flowery way of saying sorry," She said icily, before turning around and starting to walk away once more. As she walked away, she turned for a moment, walking backwards and flashing him a somewhat cruel smile. "Consider this a reminder that roses have thorns and therefore so does love."

Severus remained planted as she continued to walk away from him, no longer looking back and making her way behind the castle. Now what the hell was he supposed to do?

**TBC…**

**A/n: **Please Review!


	47. Garden Of Prince's

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 47: Garden Of Prince's**_

All night long, he was unable to sleep because all he could think of was how to get Samara to pacify her anger. Even now, as he made his way from his office to the Hospital Wing, he remained unable to think about anything. He'd spent the entire morning, making Potions that Madam Pomfrey had requested to restock the Hospital wing in order to finally put Samara out of his mind. He'd even skipped lunch to complete his task, and perhaps evade the angry Samara a little longer.

However, as he stepped into the somewhat busy infirmary, he felt it all rushing back to him. The truth was that he'd never been in a real relationship. Never before had he really loved anyone before Samara except for Lily and he'd ruined that. He had absolutely no idea what the hell he was doing. This was completely uncharted territory for him, and from what he'd heard in his teenage years from his "friends" about relationships, he had to surmise that no man had any idea what to do when it came to relationships, and that he was much worse then other men as he had no idea how to socialize period. Well that wasn't completely true, he simply preferred not to get too involved.

"I'll be with you in a moment Professor Snape," Madam Pomfrey called out from the bed that she was standing at, hovering over a third year Ravenclaw who seemed to have his head transfigured into that of an obscene hand gesture. Severus merely nodded and looked around the infirmary, not trying to think of what happened there. Probably some idiotic Slytherin or Griffindor thought it would be a funny prank to play on the boy, though he couldn't say he was particularly sympathetic to the Ravenclaw's plight. He'd seen worse.

It looked like it was a busy day as about five beds were currently taken up by students and it was only the beginning of the school year; also he couldn't help but notice that they were all in their first, second and third year. However, this all slipped from his mind as he stared at the empty bed where there was a small purple Hyacinth on the nightstand next to it. He furrowed his brow at the oddity. Someone brought a flower to an empty bed?

Walking slowly over to the bed, he picked up the tiny flower that had been picked from one of the four greenhouses, and quite recently for the flower still looked quite fresh. Staring at the purple little beauty, he slowly twirled it in his fingers and wondered who would purposefully pick the flower to leave on the vacant bed. However, as he twirled the very short stem of the little blossom, he thought about what Samara had said to him the previous day about hating roses and was reminded of his mother.

He didn't hate Eileen Prince. Strangely enough, no matter how weak he thought of her and how much he wished throughout his childhood that she would one day leave his muggle father and take them far away from the horrible man, he couldn't hate her. It wasn't because his mother was a beautiful, picturesque Madonna-and-child type either, nor was she a particularly gifted witch, despite the fact that she came from one of the eldest most respected pure-blood families. She was a sour, surly, bitter woman with no talent with magic.

Except when she was gardening, she loved Herbology and it seemed that creating beautiful life gave her peace of mind. When she was tending her garden, it was like she was someone else entirely. She was free from his father and the darkness and gloom that was their home. In the garden, she would smile at him, and her eyes would twinkle with life while telling him the names of flowers and all their different meanings. It was this gentler Eileen Prince that Severus liked to remember, it was this woman that he so terribly missed. Not the woman that cowered beneath the frame of Tobias Snape.

_Fist of all, I hate roses. They are obnoxiously, perfectly beautiful and overrated._ Those were Samara's words and they rang through his head annoyingly. He'd never particularly seen Samara partial to any kinds of plants and was very surprised to hear how much she disapproved of roses. However, it was this that reminded him of his mother and made something inside him smile and feel warm, like he'd been brought closer to the woman of the gardens.

"_Roses?"_ his mother had scoffed one day as she kneeled in a plot of bright red carnations. She turned her gleaming black eyes to him and offered him a twisted smile, one that never crossed her face when they were inside and he distinctly felt some type of brightness to see her not look so defeated. It made hope rise in him that there was some fire left in this woman and that she had not been completely down trodden by Tobias Snape. She was beautiful to him in that moment. "_There are millions of beautiful flowers that are not half-so-renown as Roses, but are beautiful in their own way. Besides, such perfection is boring, Severus."_

"Samara dropped that off yesterday, before dinner," Severus looked over at Madam Pomfrey and nodded, despite the fact that his brain caught up afterwards. He'd lost himself in his memories that he'd hardly paid any mind to Madam Pomfrey. He turned for a small moment and twirled the small flower in his long, thin fingers before setting it back down where he had found it and turning to the nurse.

"Why?" he asked as she turned to her and handed her a parcel with all the potions that she'd asked for. The woman smiled at him thankfully as she diverted her strained face to see what Potions he'd managed to make for her on such short notice. She was mildly surprised and amazed that he'd managed to concoct the whole list. Something Severus didn't notice as he turned away when he saw that the Healer's attention was caught by the parcel and gazed at the flower that Samara had dropped off at this empty bed, wondering why.

He stared at the purple petals that were in somewhat twisted peaks and thought about the meaning of the purple Hyacinth, which was of sorrow or could be taken as a plea for forgiveness. "She leaves that very same flower, once a month at this bed, in memory of her unborn child. She enchants it to last a month," Madam Pomfrey said as she looked up at him. Severus stared at the bed and nodded, suddenly realizing that this was the bed in which Samara had lost her child.

"I see," he said simply as he turned to look at the flower and wondered if Samara knew the significance of the flower or if that was just simple coincidence. However, as he thought about the previous day, he suddenly realized that when she'd left the lesson yesterday that she'd gone out to the greenhouse and there were so many other flowers for her to chose from, prettier ones, but instead she had chosen this one. No, Samara had to at first known the meaning of the flower when she'd first chosen it, which meant she must like flowers and must have a favorite. Suddenly an idea popped into his head and he turned to the Healer. "Excuse me," he said as he nodded curtly to her and headed out of the infirmary to look for Samara. No one would notice if they went missing for a couple of hours before dinner.

---

Samara sighed as she slouched down on her couch and impetuously crossed her arms over her chest as she scowled at her coffee table. She'd spent the whole darn morning patrolling, hoping that she'd run into Severus as she was still angry to go to him. She had a annoying tendency of breaking her resolve to stay mad at him and always wound up going back to him, apologizing for any minor thing she'd done wrong and forgiving him for everything that he'd done wrong even though he did not apologize or acknowledge it. But not this time, she had to teach him a lesson and he had to learn it.

Sighing, she leaned over and placed her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands as she stared at the fire. She drummed her fingers on her cheeks, wondering what she should do now. She'd finished all her homework the previous night and she didn't have anything else to do. She always supposed that she could study, but at the moment she had no desire to do anything. Funny how trying to stay mad at someone you desperately missed and wanted to be happy with could do that to you.

Sitting back on the couch, she slouched as she pulled out the heart-shaped music-box-pendant that Severus had given her from beneath her robes. The chain was quite long and made the pendant regularly bounce against her middle when she walked, but she didn't care. It was a constant reminder of their first date and how Severus had been, and how perfect the gift was that it filled her with joy and made her put more of a bounce in her step. She always wore it; she never took it off, except when she showered. However, even when she went to sleep she kept it on, drifting to dreams filled with Severus as she listened to the beautiful little tune that broke her heart while filling in utterly.

Gently she ran her fingers over the web and spider, smiling to herself and thinking of her newly acquired pet. A special little something she'd found in South America when Professor Sinistra had taken her there for something or other. Samara hadn't really paid attention to what that was about and she'd become so engrossed with the lore of a tribe and their dedication to spiders with magical essences.

However, before she had much time to think of this, she distinctly heard the sound of someone standing outside the door and sat upright. Furrowing her brow, she put away the chain beneath her robes once more and waved her hand at the door, wondering who was disturbing her. The only people that knew where her rooms were and how to get in were Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Professor Sinistra, the Head Boy and of course Severus. However, she couldn't imagine that any of them was possibly visiting her.

She felt her heart lift as she stared at Severus' black eyes, as he flushed. He had his hand raised like he was about to knock on her door, but she presumed she'd heard him before he'd been able to manage. However, reminding herself that she was supposed to be angry with him, she scowled over at him. "What are _you_ doing here?" she asked pointedly and sharply as she stared at him.

"May I come in?" he asked icily. Samara raised a brow, wondering at how gentlemanly he was behaving by presuming he should not step into the_common _room without her permission. She smiled at him, however did not desist in her scowling as she nodded her head. Severus stepped into the room. "You didn't accept my apology and … well I can't say that I don't deserve it," he said as he stared at her. If Samara was surprised by this, she didn't let it show. She merely continued to stare at him with the frigid, smoldering gaze of hers that was starting to make him feel uneasy. Did all women have that_look_? He could still remember it when his mother and Lily used to give it to him. "I've got a surprise of sorts, for you," he stated bluntly when any eloquence with words failed him beneath that_look_.

"A gift will not appease me," Samara said coldly.

"It is not a gift," he said curtly as he looked at her.

"What is it than?"

"I'm afraid that will require a … trip," Severus said as he smirked at her in a teasing kind of way. He could see that the look in her eyes had changed to that of childish anticipation and curiosity as she looked at him and a crooked smile came over her face. He could feel his heart begin to rush and that nasty feeling that had taken place in his stomach since he realized that she was angry with him begin to ease to see that she was wiling to listen and that perhaps he would be able to make her happy.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Samara said with a smile as she stood up. Severus wondered as she bounced over to him if the trip was really going to be necessary, for she looked quite happier with him now then she had recently. He guessed it really was just the thought that counted and giving someone a rose when you're sorry wasn't particularly thoughtful. He supposed that now that she was in a better mood with him that he didn't have to take her and go through the hassle of sneaking off Hogwarts grounds. However, Samara deserved the world and if he could give her a wonderful piece of it, he would; even if it wasn't at all necessary.

---

Severus gently reached out and pulled the blindfold slowly from Samara's eyes. She'd of course objected and eyed him suspiciously when he suggested she put on a blindfold, however she'd acquiesced when he asked her if she trusted him. It hadn't been terribly hard to sneak out of the castle or for Severus to apparate them to their destination, the long deserted Prince Manor's enchanted garden. However it had taken them quite some time, which vexed Severus, but he tried not to let it get to him by reminding himself of the special place he was taking Samara to and hoping she would react like he was expecting.

He watched a little warily, for she was very unpredictable, as the blindfold slipped away and Samara's green eyes fell to the tree that was about fifteen feet before her and found them wandering up to the beautiful pink and white Magnolias that were in full bloom. A small smile slipped on his face as he watched her wide eyes look in amazement around herself at all the beautiful flowers and the ivy covered walls of the gardens. "Severus, it's so lovely here!"

Feeling pleased that she was happy and watching her wander around the garden, Severus found his eyes roaming around the place as well. Bleeding-hearts, Aconite, Baby's Breath, Buttercups, Jasmines, Peonies, Carnations, Forget-Me-Nots, Lilies, Dahlias, Geraniums, Poppies, Azaleas, Daisies, Sunflowers, Tulips, they were all there, just as he remembered them. Not that he'd been in this particular garden too many times as a child, but he'd been here a fair few times. Enough to know how to make his way around and remember what several flowers meant.

Slowly Severus made his way to where Samara was standing, behind the tree and staring down at the Lilies. There were white Calla lilies, and black ones; Casablanca lilies, Stargazer Lilies and Daylilies, which he remembered quite vividly were Lilies favorite type. She specifically loved the red ones, which Severus thought was only fitting considering the fact that she was in Griffindor and could be quite enthusiastic. "Do you like Lilies?" Severus asked as he looked down at Samara.

Samara turned to look away from the Lilies and nodded. "They aren't my favorites, but they are all beautiful. But I prefer Stargazer Lilies," she replied as she turned to look at the beautiful, star shaped flower of bright pink petals, freckled with dark spots and lined bright white, whose tips somewhat curled back. Samara smiled as she leaned over slightly and smelled the Lily, they always had such a very nice fragrance. "They always smell so wonderful," she said as she straightened herself out and looked over at him, her eyes looking resplendently happy.

He's stopped looking at the lilies and started to stare at her. She looked so beautiful, her hair falling and framing each side of her face. As he stared at her, he wondered what her favorite flower was. It wasn't Lilies and it wasn't Roses, then what was it? A gentle breeze blew through the garden, a magnolia falling lose of the tree and entangling in her dark tresses, the pink and white petals contrasting against the dark masses of her hair. Severus gently reached out and pulled out the flower, despite how picturesque it was.

"What's your favorite flower?" he asked as he stared at her. Samara smiled coyly as she walked away from him, making him follow her as she made her way past the unforgettably blue Forget-Me-Nots, the sweet little yellow Buttercups, past the simply white Jasmines, the innocent daisies and came to a stop at a flower Severus couldn't quite recall.

The petals were quite strange and unique; beautiful in their own way. Petals seemed to be reaching up and curving in, while the others curved down. "An Iris for the imaginative," she replied as she smiled over at him. Severus felt his stomach flip at the sound of the name of the purple flower and flashed back to his dream about the unborn child in his wife's stomach. "What is yours?" Samara asked as she looked up at him. Severus snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Samara, trying to push the dream away from consciousness.

"Dahlias," he said, pointing to the large, cherry red flowers on the opposite side of the garden. He watched Samara turn away and walk to the opposite side of the garden to observe the plant that he loved while Severus looked around himself and thought about flower meanings, before he started to slowly pick out flowers. He moved very slowly and not drawing Samara's attention as he picked a Red Carnation, Blue Camellia, a Yellow Tulip, a Daffodil and Narcissus, before walking over to her.

Samara cast a glance over her shoulder as Severus approached her with his hands behind his back, something she didn't think much of as he frequently walked like that in the halls. "It's very pretty," she said as she looked at him, just barely noticing a doorway at the very front of the garden, nearly hidden by all the vines that covered it. They were standing in what seemed the backyard of a very large house and just as she was about to ask him, he pulled out a hand from behind his back and held out a pretty Red Carnation.

"The Red Carnations means that 'my heart aches for you'," Severus said, holding out the flower for her to take. Samara looked surprised by this as she smiled broadly at him and gently took the flower in her thin fingertips. Before she could say anything, he pulled out another flower, this time the Yellow Tulip. "Yellow Tulips say that 'there is sunshine in your smile'," he said, while staring transfixed at her mouth, twisted into that crooked smile that made his heart always race at the speed of light and seemed reserved only for him. Looking up into her sparkling eyes, he brought out another flower and stared transfixed at her hazel sparkling gaze. "Narcissus requests 'you stay as sweet as you are'," he said, noticing which flower it was, before pulling out the bright blue flower. "The Blue Camellia means, 'you are a flame in my heart', and last but not least, the Daffodil."

Samara took the Daffodil and Blue Camellia, adding it to her bizarre arrangement of flowers, but she didn't care because it was all so lovely. "What does the Daffodil mean?" she asked gently as she stared into that intense gaze of his, feeling it looking through her entire soul and devouring it with that fire that burned deep beneath the surface of those endless back tunnels.

Severus gently ran his hand over her cheek, staring at every facet of her face, committing to memory every feature that he thought was perfection. "_You are the only one,"_ he replied, slowly leaning in and placing a tentative kiss on her lips. He felt a spark of something course through his body from lips to the roots of his hair and to the soles of his feet. Warmth spread through him at the taste of her sweet lips and the way they so willingly molded to whatever he wanted, pressing more urgently to him with desire; a desire he couldn't understand why she would feel for him, but a desire nonetheless that made his grow.

The kiss slowly deepened as she pressed her little hands against his arms and he felt his hand slip from her cheek to the nape of her neck, his fingers entangling in her lose hair and holding her to him, though she didn't need the encouragement. She'd already pressed her lips so ardently against his that he could feel his face begin to flush in the cool air of the garden. At the base of his thumb, he could feel the artery in her neck pulsating, telling him that her heart was beating with as much speed and excitement as his. It caused him to reach out gently with his free hand to her waist, pulling her body up against his

No brain cells in his mind seemed to be functioning, other than the very basic ones that could send signals to his body. He could also feel, smell and taste, but as for his other senses, they seemed to momentarily have shut down. He couldn't hear anything but his own beating heart and the blood rush, and he couldn't see anything for he'd shut his eyes in the ecstasy of the sensation of her mouth. Her lips were quite plush and soft against his own, that he couldn't quite help himself from capturing her bottom lip between his and sensually kissing it, lightly nibbling on it.

This action only elicited a whimpering moan from the love of his life, before he felt something wet and thin penetrate his mouth and flick his tongue. A deeper moan was issued from his throat at the smallest bit of contact from her tongue and the warmth from their mouths burned throughout their whole bodies. Feeling another desire awaken in him, the type that reminded him of his embarrassing mornings, Severus pulled away and looked down, panting slightly for breath as Samara did as well, her chest heaving slightly.

After having caught his breath, he looked up into Samara's love face, whose cheeks were lightly flushed. She smiled at him, a little shyly, but stared into his eyes with a smoldering gaze that made him want to ravish her. It had been entirely too hard that first night he went to her rooms to keep from kissing her, in fact at any point, really that they were alone it was hard not to reach out to her and taste her wonderfully light lips. However, he'd forced himself too, afraid that her mouth would be simply far too much temptation for him to be able to pull away from. And it was quite hard to diffuse himself from those lips that smiled so charmingly at him and for a moment he felt a little jealous that he had to share her smiles with the world.

However, he supposed that so long as he didn't have to share her kisses with anyone else, that the world could conform itself with simply her smiles. "I know, I know, slowly," she said as she looked at him beaming. She then threw her arms around his neck and pressed her body to him as she hugged him tightly. "I love you, Severus," she said as she pulled away slightly from him and looked into his eyes, hers shining with such deep truth that they purged the world of lies for the moment.

"I love you, Samara," he said so softly he wasn't sure whether she heard him or not as he engulfed her in a hug and buried his face in the crook of her neck, feeling hot tears in his eyes. He was sure that she heard it, for he was sure she would never miss it. After all it was the first time he'd said it aloud, even to himself. And that fact that, that was the first time she'd ever said it so directly, made it all that much more real.

**TBC…**

**A/n: **Thank you to all of you who are reviewing. You guys rock and I hope you liked the chapter. Please review!


	48. Keen Mind

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 48: Keen Mind**_

Severus sat staring into the fire as Samara curled into his side. He was absent-mindedly running the fingers of his left hand through the silky tresses of her hair, his fingers never getting caught. It was a very strange sensation, to feel those silk locks and how the single strands shifted and moved within his grasp. The texture of her hair wasn't like his hair, he supposed his had more oils than hers because of the fumes of the potions.

They had returned to the castle shortly before dinner and split their separate ways. However, as curfew drew nearer, Severus found himself missing Samara. He was more than happy when he saw the black quill with silver edges request his presence in Samara's private quarters. Now here they sat in peaceful silence in her common room, both staring into the fire. Neither one had much to say at the moment, both lost in their own thoughts as they were, but he found it comforting enough to be in her presence and have her snuggled into him. Her head on his shoulder, her legs tucked beneath herself while her left hand idly rested on his chest, watching it heave with every breath he took.

"Severus," Severus turned his head slightly and looked at Samara, who was looking up at him curiously. He quirked a brow in response, staring into her shining hazel eyes that he supposed really should remind him of the man he most hated in the world, however, did not, because they were far closer to green. "Where did you take me today? How did you know the place?" she asked as she stared into his eyes.

"It was the garden of Prince Manor," he replied simply as he turned to look at the fireplace. "It's been abandoned for about ten years when my maternal grandfather passed away," Severus said as he looked at Samara. He could feel Samara's eyes gazing up at him intently and as he stared into the fire he supposed he should tell her a little more about his family as he knew almost all there seemed to be to hers. "My grandfather kicked my mother out of the house and told her he never wanted to see her again when she married my father, because he was a muggle.

"When I was a child, there were a few times when my mother would take me to the Garden of Prince manor, mostly when she knew my grandfather would not be around. When he passed away eleven years ago the Manor passed into my mother's possession, for he'd never disinherited her. However, it has remained uninhabited because my mother resented her father. However, the house has its own House Elves, which keep the place clean and the gardens in constant care," Severus stated unemotionally while staring into the fire. He'd never felt anything for his grandfather, he never even recalled seeing the man his whole life.

Staring into the fire, Severus could vaguely remember a time when his father didn't hate them, which had quickly changed when Severus was seven and it was hard for Eileen to keep hiding his displays of magic. Things had changed so drastically. While they were never a particularly joyful family, they hadn't been so dysfunctional until his father found out that his son was a wizard and his wife was a witch. That was when the abuse started and life had become truly miserable.

"Your mother loved gardening?" Samara asked. Severus turned his gaze to Samara and stared into her face. There was a very soft expression that welcomed him to talk more. It was a look of understanding, that wasn't at all like the look that Lily had given him. While Lily had understood his situation at home, she didn't know everything that went on at home and there was no way that she would ever be able to understand like Samara. There was no way that she would understand that kind of pain, growing with that kind of fear and anger.

"Herbology was her favorite subject and therefore she particularly loved flowers. Gardening was probably a strange hobby for someone as sulky and surly as my mother," Severus said as he looked away from Samara. He'd stopped playing with her hair and his hand was resting on her shoulder, unconsciously drawing her closer to him. "I moved out from my parents as soon as I turned seventeen, because I couldn't stand living with my father. A little later on in the year my grandfather passed away. My mother, passed away when I was nineteen, there was no funeral. I haven't seen my father since the day and Prince Manor passed into my possession, but I… I've grown quite accustomed to Spinner's end these past six years and haven't thought to move into it."

"Out of all the places you picked, why did you chose there?" Samara suddenly asked.

"I grew up on that street," he responded. Samara pulled away from him suddenly, looking quite confused. Severus turned his gaze at her, wondering why she had so suddenly moved. Her brows were knitted together as she stared at his face, her mouth turned into a frown. Severus frowned. "What is it Samara?" he asked, for he rarely ever saw her frown.

"You couldn't wait to get away from there, why would you want to live so close to the place where you suffered so much?" she asked in confusion. Severus blinked as he looked at her several times. His heart started to thud in his chest, giving him a dull kind of pain as he thought of his reason for moving into Spinner's End. It was all to stay closer to the Lily he had loved. He was already teaching at Hogwarts, and the only other place he'd been close to her was that park.

But he couldn't tell Samara that. How had she stumbled across a secret that only Dumbledore knew about, one that he did not want to talk to anyone about? Severus turned away from Samara and stared into the fire, thinking about the first year that he was teaching at Hogwarts, when Samara was a second year. Lily was still alive when he at first started to teach and then on October, oh so unexpectedly, the Dark Lord fell and the Potters were dead. Severus could still remember being called into Dumbledore's office that night and how distraught he'd been.

"To be closer to her," he responded, trying to sound cold as he stared into the fire. It wasn't a lie; he simply wasn't specifying who _she_ was.

He didn't quite remember what he was like after that night. It seemed that the following months were a bit of a blur to him. He hardly remembered much from his first year teaching; even his memories of Samara herself that year were a bit of a blur. To keep the grief he felt from utterly taking over him, he'd given all his students far more homework to do to keep himself occupied in the evenings, to be able to think of nothing else but his work and go straight to sleep.

Severus looked over at the seventeen year old witch that was sitting there, her eyes analyzing him. She had the feeling that there was more to that response, but for now she accepted that. However, new questions were forming in her mind as she thought about the park at which he'd found her at. "Why did you go to the park that day?" she suddenly asked. Severus turned to her and furrowed his brow, not understanding what she meant. "The park that you found me at, why did you go there?" she asked.

"I was simply walking around, I went there as a child," he responded. Samara's eyes suddenly looked at him suspiciously.

"Why?" she asked. Severus sat up, staring to feel uneasy, wondering why her mind was so sharp.

"Why what? I was a child, is it strange for someone to go to a park as a child?" he asked mockingly as he narrowed his gaze on hers. He felt anger rising in him that her questions were nearing the subject that he did not like to talk about. He didn't want to tell Samara that not so long ago he'd been madly in love with Lily Potter. That would lead to other questions about his past and he didn't know if she would understand that in only a couple of years she'd completely taken over his heart.

Samara raised a brow at this, knowing that something was very off. She could see that he was beginning to get riled up and knew it had something to do with her questions. However, she didn't understand. There was something more to his moving to Spinner's End and she was sure it had something to do with that park. "I'm sorry but you don't strike me was the type to go to a park," she replied as she looked at him. She thought about her childhood and how much she hated going to the park. She hated to see all the children running around, playing with each other but completely ignoring her. Everyone was friends with someone there, and she would have been alone. She didn't want to be alone at a park. "Who was your playmate?"

Severus lost all color in his face as he stared at her. "Who said I had a playmate?" he asked as he stared at her. She raised a brow at this, smiling slightly at another clue. What did a muggle, childhood playmate have to do with Severus wanting to continue to live at Spinner's End. Who was the child that caused the Potions Master to return to the park for no reason at all?

"No one goes to the park to play alone," Samara said as she watched him. Severus turned away form Samara. Her eyes did indeed see far too much. Staring into the fire, he wondered what he should say. It was becoming apparent that her mind was far too sharp and that she was able to analyze him quite easily. He surmised that he wouldn't be able to lie to her and that he should tell her a little bit of the truth.

"If you must know, as I child, I came across a muggle-born witch. She was the only person that I ever considered a... friend. But when we came to Hogwarts she went to Gryffindor and I to Slytherin. That was the end of it, we grew apart. Her friends hated mine and mine hated hers and we couldn't be friends," he replied, oversimplifying everything that had happened and avoiding the whole mudblood incident. Samara really didn't need to know that as it led to all the complications that he didn't want to talk about.

"What was her name?" Samara asked gently curious. Severus looked over at Samara and could see that her sharp mind was appeased as she looked at him, her gaze wasn't quite as intense as a moment ago.

"Lily Evans," he replied simply, guessing that it wouldn't hurt for her to know. Samara furrowed her brow thinking back to something that Hagrid had once said to her when she was a first year. They'd been talking about the Head Boy and Head girl and how all the previous years they seemed to hate each other, always competing to be the student with the topmost grades and how now that they were Head Boy and Girl were actually dating. Hagrid had said something about a girl named Lily and a boy named James he'd once known that were exactly the same.

Samara turned her eyes to Severus and furrowed her brow in thought. She remembered when the Dark Lord fell very vaguely. It was the day after Halloween and there was a big celebration in the Great Hall in honor of the Dark Lords fall and in honor of the Potters. She remembered that Professor Snape had not been present and she also remembered the obituary of the Potters, which had their birth dates on them. Doing the math, she knew that they had to be the same year as Severus.

"Lily Potter?" she suddenly asked, catching Severus off guard. He didn't understand how she could possibly make the connection. However, he simply nodded as he eyed her curiously. "That's why you became harder on us in my second year, you didn't want to think about your estranged friend having passed away," Samara said as she looked at him. She remembered the occasion in her second year that she'd been sitting outside his door before Potions, reading her book near the end of the year. She'd meant to ask him why he was a different Professor than he'd been back in September, but decided against asking when she saw that he was in one of his moods. "There is nothing wrong with wanting to remember those that have passed."

Severus didn't say anything, but turned to look at the fire. Samara scooted closer to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, and leaned her head on his shoulder. "You had a real friend Severus, that's more than anyone is granted sometimes. it's not wrong to want to be close to them in some way," she said, trying to comfort him. Looking over at her, he was relieved that she didn't see that he'd loved Lily. However, he supposed that was because Samara had never had a friend, not a real one and she must think that loosing someone that was a real friend was sufficient enough to make you grieve for a year and wanting to be close to them in anyway possible.

Turning his head slightly, he planted a kiss on the top of her head. "You deserve the world Samara," Severus said in a very low tone, feeling calmer now that they had dropped the tricky subject. Samara smiled as she looked into his eyes. There was an intense look in his eyes and she leaned in to plant a small kiss on the tip of his nose.

"I don't need the world, so long as I have you," she smiled. Severus smiled and shook his head. She was quite infectious.

**TBC…**

**A/n: **For anyone who ever wondered what Samara wanted to ask him in the first chapter, now you know. Anyway, I hope that everyone liked this chapter and will review! Thanks to everyone whose review, I love you guys!**  
**


	49. About Samara And Slytherins

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 49: About Samara And Slytherins**_

The following couple of days were the same. Samara spent most of Sunday after breakfast with the Head Boy and Prefects discussing who would be doing what. He didn't have much of an opportunity to see her until just before lunch. She aided him with some of his grading to get him caught up before they both separated and went their separate ways to eat lunch. He didn't see her once more until dinner.

Monday and Tuesday had both passed in much the same way. He didn't see Samara all day, except when he looked out at her during meals while speaking to Professor Cross. After dinner both he and Samara would head to their duties and would probably see each other around eight, after she had done some patrolling and finished all her homework and he had gotten through with any grading and any unwanted detentions that he might have.

However, today he would see her after Potions class had come to a conclusion and he probably would not be able to see her that evening as she was going to be helping out in the Hospital wing that evening. He was thankful in the past couple days that the topic of Lily had been completely dropped and that they hadn't gotten into another argument. However, he supposed that they would come, and was simply trying his best to enjoy her company and good graces until he accidentally messed that up. For, from what he'd noticed so far, most of the time it was his fault, not that he would really admit to it.

After breakfast, he made his way of the Great Hall, intending to head down to the Dungeons to mentally prepare for the second year Slytherin and Gryffindors that he had first thing in the morning. However, as he exited the hall he felt something bounce into him. He glared down at the second year Hufflepuff that he didn't quite recognized yet to be Nymphadora Tonks, for her nose was slightly different and her hair was a deep shade of black. However, that soon changed as it started to turn red at the roots as she stared at him with wide eyes.

"Five points from Hufflepuff for running in the hall," Severus said in his silkiest tone as he stared down his nose at her. Tonks was still backing away from him, when she suddenly bumped into whoever had been chasing her. "And that will be another five points from Gryffindor," he said as he glared over at Charlie Weasley, who was now standing next to his now red haired friend. Severus glared down at the natural red head. Charlie was several inches taller than Tonks and was now frowning.

Charlie couldn't help but notice that Snape was being particularly nasty with him and from what he'd heard from Bill, he wasn't the only Weasley that was getting into more trouble than what was usual. Snape was taking points from them at the smallest infractions. "Yes, sir," Tonks and Charlie both said as they looked at the Potion's Master. Neither one of them wanted to hard press their luck; at least they were not getting Detention.

"Good morning Professor Snape," Bill said as he walked up behind his sibling. Severus turned his gaze from one dark eyed Weasley to the other. Severus merely gave the boy a scathing look. However, Bill wasn't paying attention as he was now steering his younger brother and Tonks towards the Great Hall. "See you next lesson," he said as politely as he could muster as he made his way around him.

"What was that about?" Severus turned around and watched as Samara approached from another direction, just barely missing the two Gryffindors and Hufflepuff as they entered the Great Hall. Severus merely shook his head in response as he turned to face Samara while she approached slowly, her movements very languid. She had her school bag hanging from her shoulder and her hair tied up in a very tight bun, as apposed to the lazy, sloppy bun. She was holding her hands behind her back as she walked in a way that reminded him very much of the Headmaster and her eyes were gleaming with an amused twinkle.

"You should polish the badge," Severus said as he noted the badge seemed to have a smudge mark. Samara looked down at it and furrowed her brow. She sighed as she removed the badge and polished it before replacing it on her chest. She then smiled up at him.

"Better?" she asked as she looked at him. He merely shrugged, causing her to laugh lightly while shaking her head at him. However, as she looked up, Professor Cross suddenly appeared on Severus' right and she had to smile over at the strawberry blond everyone she knew made a commotion about. Usually Samara had to stop Nate and Ethan from saying nasty, hormonal comments about their new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. "Good morning Professor Cross," Samara said, smiling politely as she looked at the person whom had just interrupted them.

"Good morning Samara, Professor Snape," Cross said with that smile of hers as she looked down at Samara and over at Severus who was now staring at her with a raised brow. It was that same smile that had all the boys of Hogwarts drooling like morons. It was an enigmatic, sensuous smile that Samara could never muster and it bothered her that it was the only one that Professor Cross seemed to have and the whole world was topsy-turvy for it. Not that she had anything against Cross, she was a fairly good Professor though she gave many essays, though she supposed it was not anymore than any of the other teachers. "How are you this morning Samara?"

"Fine thank you. Yourself?" Samara asked politely. Severus didn't know why, but he didn't like getting stuck between them while these two exchanged pleasantries. He supposed it was only because he had nothing that he wanted to add to their exchange and it made him feel as though he were eavesdropping or something.

"Looking forward to today's lesson," Pandora replied, sounding enthused. Samara merely nodded at this and smiled lightly.

"Well I should get something to eat, I'll see you later Professor," Samara said with a nod of her head before walking away and into the Great Hall. Severus watched as Samara walked away, his heart already missing her. He cursed himself for growing such a deep attachment. Though he supposed it wasn't his fault or something that couldn't have been helped.

"Does Samara ever volunteer to answer questions in your class?" Severus turned to look at Pandora who was asking him the question while watching Samara walk away. Severus stared at the woman who went through a lot of trouble with her appearance. Currently, she had half of her hair in a fancy bun while the rest of it was loose. Her hair waved down past her shoulders and ended in soft tendrils of curls. Pandora, for once was not smiling and looked rather thoughtful as she stared after the Head Girl.

"Never has," he replied simply.

"Oh, good, I just thought that she was like that in my class," Pandora said, sounding slightly relieved. Severus looked over at her, wondered why she was so concerned about it, but couldn't say that he disagreed. If she cared about the way students acted in her classes, it had to mean that she was concerned about their education, which was a slight plus. "She has a lot of friends."

Severus turned and smirked at Pandora. "Slytherins don't have friends, at least, not with each other," Severus said silkily. Pandora's eyes sparkled as she looked at him. "You either know that when you start, or you learn the hard way. Either way, not everyone is cut out for Slytherin."

"No offense Severus, but that makes your house sound awful. So everyone in Slytherin is only out to get something when it comes to friendship?" she asked. Her voice was light and teasing and she kept smiling in that minx-like way of hers. Severus couldn't help but stare deeply into her blue eyes and smirk.

"Unfortunately, that's the way it works. Not everyone does it because they have a predisposition towards it, but you learn that if you want to survive in your own house it's what you have to do. I think being in Slytherin educates you better for the world. You learn that you can't trust those closest to you and how to manipulate people and situations to your advantage without anyone knowing any better," he said as he looked into her eyes.

"That's quite a cynical view of the world you got there," she said coquettishly.

"Quite accurate if you ask me," Severus replied in a drawl as he thought about his years after Hogwarts. Sure a Death Eater he had a biased opinion of the world that probably wasn't completely accurate, however, even Dumbledore, the light and beacon of their world, seemed to exploit things that work to his advantage. After all, had not Dumbledore used his love for Lily as a way to bind him to his service until the Dark Lord finally fell? It wasn't like Dumbledore had not planned to protect the Potters once he'd heard the prophecy and knew that Voldemort was after the Potters. It was something Severus had realized long after the fact that they were dead.

Pandora eyed the Potions Master for a moment, smiling sexily as she thought about how dark and mysterious he was. "So what happens to the students that are not intelligent enough to manipulate?" Pandora asked, changing the subject. Severus eyed the Professor for a moment before responding.

"They become lackeys for stronger students. Slytherin is very hierarchical," Severus replied simply.

"I see, and does that make sweet little Samara manipulative?" Pandora asked. Severus furrowed his brow for a moment, detecting a very subtle tone the way that she mentioned Samara, however, could not quite place what that was. He merely convinced himself that he'd imagined it, as every Professor was quite fond of Samara and by the way that Samara was in classes, it would take Cross a while to get a better read on her character.

Thinking about it, Severus wasn't really sure. However, he thought all women were manipulative, at least they knew very well how to manipulate men, and thinking about the situation with Lucius, he had to assume that Samara did know how to manipulate a man. "I'm not sure, though, is not your whole gender manipulative?" Severus asked, looking into Pandora's eyes. Pandora raised a brow and smirked, wondering if he was trying to tell her something. He smirked at her, "Excuse me; I need to prepare for class."

**TBC...**

**A/N:** Please review!**  
**


	50. Dumbledore's Gift

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 50: Dumbledore's Gift**_

"You know, you have yet to show me your private quarters," Samara said as she waltzed up to his desk at the end of Potions. Severus looked up and noticed that everyone was already gone and that the door had been firmly closed behind the last person who had exited. He'd gotten so caught up in looking through the essays that everyone had turned in. He looked at Samara, wondering what she had said to get rid of her three _friends._ However, he decided against asking her, trusting that she'd told them something plausible for her to stay behind.

"No, I suppose I haven't," he said as he dropped what he was doing and walked past her, indicating for her to follow after him. It didn't take them very long to arrive, considering they were in the dungeons. Samara wasn't too surprised that his private quarters were so close to Slytherin. She wasn't too surprised when they stopped before a stone wall, much like in Slytherin and her own private quarters; she supposed that his quarters were behind the stone wall. "Iris," he muttered to the wall, causing it to slide open, and waving Samara quickly inside.

Samara smirked as she stepped into the room and saw that it looked just like his study, except for the fact that there was a door at the far end, which she supposed led to his bedroom. She watched him walk over to the couch before the fire and settle down. However, Samara walked over to the bookshelf and started to eye the spines of the books that lined the walls. "God Severus, how many books have you bought?" she asked as she fingered the spines delicately.

Severus watched intently as her fingers softly played on the spines, her eyes steadily studying them. There was something strangely alluring of watching her thin fingers softly caressing the spines, her fingers feather-lightly touching them as her eyes roved over titles and authors, intently studying each word with delight. He couldn't help the way all his hairs stood on end in wonder of her soft touch and what if would do to him.

Shaking his head, Severus watched as Samara plucked out a leather bound book that he didn't quite recognize. She eyed it curiously as she flipped it in her hands. "An anthology of Wizarding poetry throughout the ages, you like poetry Severus?" she asked, looking over at him with a raised brow. Her hazel eyes were mocking him once more and he glared over at her as she started to flip through the pages.

"Not particularly. I suppose that was Dumbledore's gift for my birthday a few years ago. Usually he had a tendency to give me socks," Severus said irritably as Samara walked over with the book in her hand, completely engrossed as she flipped through the pages. Her eyes brightened as she sat next to him and giggled at some of the poems she read. Severus didn't pay much mind or care what she thought was funny in what she read, but was completely enthralled by _her_.

The soft light from the fireplace made her face glow warmly and her eyes were sparkling in such a way that breathed with merriment. "What do you find so amusing?" Severus drawled in irritation, he didn't want Samara's attention diverted elsewhere in one of the few moments that he was able to spend with her. She looked up and smiled at him. He felt his heart beat against his rib as she scooted closer and curled up to him, the book resting in her lap as she looked back down to it.

"I found my favorite poem, Innocence by Kind Hades about his Queen," Samara replied. Severus raised a brow. Once upon a time, a very long time ago, the wizarding world did have Queens and Kings, but that tradition died out in their world long before it had in the muggle world. However, Severus had not known that the old aristocracy had indulged in something so frivolous for their world as poetry. "Can I read it to you Sevy?" Samara asked as she turned her bright eyes to him.

"I suppose," Severus grimaced, causing samara to place a kiss on his cheek as she turned her attention to the book before her. Severus watched her as she ran her tongue over her lips, wetting them for the reading. The single little gesture was quite an enticement to him and he had to focus his attention away from her perfect mouth. Slowly, his gaze wandered down her lithe frame that was hidden in her school robes and settled on her small wrists and sleek hands that held daintily to the book. He couldn't believe that even her long arms were beautiful. It was a mystery to him how every inch of her was so enchanting to him.

"Through a field of Belladonna I once swayed  
In a fiery haze, guided by sweet moonlight,  
That often betrayed."

Severus stared at Samara and his brain quickly thought of the meaning of the poem. He wasn't one for poetry, but Fiery haze he took to mean that the man was drunk on firewhisky. As for the field of Belladonna's it was clearly not talking about the plant. He suppose that had more to do with _bella donna_, beautiful woman in Italian. Besides, was it not King Hades who'd been known to be quite the celebrated bachelor well into his late forties?

"Upon a fairy ring, I did stray  
And to the flute frenzy of Fairy Folk  
I had not tragic hope but to sway."

Now this was completely straight forward. It was well known that should you ever step into a fairy ring your fate was to dance until you died of exhausting, there was absolutely no hope. Severus resisted the urge to roll his eyes instead to look at Samara's mouth moving, forming the syllable with a flick of her tongue. Each word sounded like gold, and he could hear the flute that was playing. If he closed his eyes, he could actually see this literal field of belladonnas where a man had stumbled onto a Fairy ring where he was doomed to die while dancing the small creatures.

"But tragic be not my fate  
As my eyes befell that sweet face  
That has my heart caught in a feverish state."

Severus turned and looked over at Samara and felt his heart pound as he watched her staring down at the pages. Her index fingers were stroking the corners of the book. She had a very peaceful look on her face as she stared at the print. His heart hardly skipped a beat as it followed every soft syllable. The same two strands of always fell in her eyes as she was reading, but she seemed quite accustomed to seeing through the individuals strands of silk and was able to continue reading just fine.

Reaching over slowly, Severus pushed back the strands and tucking them gently behind her ears. Samara looked up at him, her hazel eyes widened in surprised as she looked at him. She blushed lightly as she stared at him and he wondered how her eyes could still look so innocents despite everything that she had lived through. She was simply a marvel to him, everything she could possible be enthralled him and thinking about it, he really couldn't think of anyone he'd rather be manipulated by.

After smiling at him briefly, Samara turned her gaze back down to the book that she had in her lap. Her body was partially resting against his and she was comforted by having him so close to her. It was like he was her big pillow and once more she had to smile at this as she looked for the place where she ad just left off. Truly he was more than just her pillow and she loved the way he wrapped his arm around her shoulder, bringing her closer to him so that she could smell the cozy wormwood smell that made her feel drowsy and warm.

"Raven locks like silk ribbons wound  
Sensually wrapping on a lithe, feminine form  
Casting magic all its own and leaving me spellbound.

"Pearlescent skin put the moon to shame  
Limbs graciously glowing against black night  
In a gentle, white, dancing flame.

"This zephyr dancer was far beyond appealing  
Far beyond alluring temptation  
And quite powerfully bewitching."

The image that popped into his head immediately was Samara. However, he felt slightly uncomfortable and banished the thought. It felt positively dangerous to think of Samara with her long hair loose, cascading over bear shoulders that probably did glow pearlescently in the moon just like her face. Her hair could possibly cover her small little mound of a chest, though was no less appealing to Severus. He didn't particularly care if they were big or small, so long as they were Samara's they were absolutely beautiful. Nothing would change the way that he viewed Samara and she was an absolutely beautiful creature. Even if to others she was only fair.

Thinking objectively, he had to say Samara was too thin and small. He supposed that her thing legs, small waist, small chest, think arms and tiny wrists had a lot to do with the act that she loved gymnastics. He couldn't deny that if he had not seen her eat her three square meals that he would be rather worried that she was unhealthy. However, he did love her very much and couldn't care less that she was so tiny. So long as she was healthy, he was happy. As for her face, she had fine features and it was rather pretty, and resplendently breathtaking when she made up her face and hair. However, he supposed otherwise she was regarded as a very naturally beautiful girl.

He had to say what probably had the Weasley boy and Tim Elias to like Samara was really her sweet disposition. However, anytime that she was really hit on seemed to be those rare few times that she made an honest effort to show-case her beauty. However, once more, Severus didn't care for that. He much rather preferred that Samara didn't know how beautiful she was and preferred not to be a doll on parade. She had so much more going for her than her pretty face and limber form. She was a brilliant witch and deserved to be respected for it. He doubted very much that the same would occur if she was breathtakingly stunning all the time, no one would be able to take her seriously because they'd be too busy focusing on how she'd managed to apply just the perfect amount of make up.

Looking over at Samara, Severus thought about his love for Samara. There was no one in the world that compared to this seventeen-year-old conundrum that was curled up next to him. Quite frankly, he knew that there was no way at all that he deserved the young little goddess that so apparently loved him beyond measure. He knew that she deserved so much more than him and he was quite sure that there simply wasn't anyone in the world that would be worthy enough for Samara. To him she was filled with resplendent beauty that shone on the inside and the outside and he didn't rightly care if no one but him saw it in the world. He just hoped he was able to truly care for that beauty.

"With a flick of the wrist and a flip of her hair  
On hands and knees I went crawling  
To her in deep despair.

"Hew wide innocent eyes looked upon me with affection  
Glistening ponds where mischief roams free.  
With tears on my cheek, I feared her rejection.

"Her lips scorched me blessedly.  
And she lovingly accepted this ugly duckling  
Within her heart, where I can die peacefully."

Samara looked over at Severus and he met her gaze. He had a great urge to lean into her and kiss her deeply in gratitude for her love, while another part of him wanted to shake her wildly to know why she would ever pick someone like him. However, instead he decided to sneer at her choice of poetry. "So you like a poem in which a fairy loves an ugly human upon sight?" Severus asked mockingly as he looked at her. Samara sighed heavily as she took the book from her lap and placed it on the table before them.

"Sevy you didn't get the two messages of the poem! First of all, its entitled innocence because sometimes innocence allows you to see more than anyone else can see," she said, turning to look at him. Severus stared into her eyes and wondered if that was the reason that she was able to see so much. "And the second was that love, no matter how much you resist it, catches you when you least expect it and that you have to let go of pride and you will see how generous, forgiving and redeeming love can be."

Severus stared at Samara and wondered how she could be so wise. He wondered once more if it all went back to innocence. He knew that she wasn't foolishly innocence and strangely enough there was wisdom in it. He stared into her hazel eyes and thought about the similarity in the expression he often saw in them, to the one that he saw in Dumbledore's. They both seemed to know a lot more than other people about everything and he didn't know how that was possible. However, as he turned his attention to what she said about love being redeeming he thought about something that Dumbeldore had once said to him.

"_My word, Severus, that I shall never reveal the best of you?"_ That was what he'd said to him the night that the Potters had died, when Samara was a second year after he'd asked Dumbledore never to tell of his love for Lily. Dumbledore seemed to think that his redeeming quality was the love he had for Lily. And Severus had to say it was true, that being able to love was one of his only redeeming qualities, not that he loved very much. However, love also made one foolish. After all, here he was still at Hogwarts, beneath the wing of Dumbledore until the Dark Lord returned, if that were to ever happen. Who knew how long that would take, but he knew that there were still several years before the boy-who-lives came for his first year. If he did the math correctly there were still about five more years until the boy would show up for his first year. Which meant he'd given away his whole life, without even knowing that something so wonderful as Samara would come along.

Severus looked over at Samara and stared at her. "Pardon me, but I'm not one for poems," he said as he reached out and undid her dun by pulling on the band that was holding it up. Severus watched as black waves tumbles down and was amused to see that her hair wasn't as straight as it should be for it had been bound in that bun all day long. He no longer wanted to dwell on the 'gifts' that Dumbledore had given him. He only wanted to think about Samara, and what a wonderful gift she was. "Samara, what do you believe sent you to me?"

Samara stared at him in wonder, a moment of weakness at long last really showing through as he caressed her hair and lavished her face with the full attention of his intense gaze. She thought for a moment as she looked at him and smiled. "An angel that must've been very fond of you," she replied, before leaning forward and placing a ghost kiss on his lips.

A shiver ran through his spine when he realized that he didn't feel true love for Samara until she was a fifth year. Sure she's always fascinated him because she was quite the conundrum, but Samara had said so herself that he didn't love her until she was a fifth year. "When did you realize you loved me?" he suddenly asked as he stared at her, wondering when it was and wondering if it was possible that, if someone had sent him to Samara and it was someone that had been fond of him, if it could have possible been Lily. For he could only imagine her as an angel and she was the only person to have ever liked him at all or been nice to him before Samara.

"I always liked you, but I suppose in my sixth year when we started to spend a lot of time with each other and I saw more to you than ever meets the eyes," she smiled as she looked at him. Severus drew Samara close and hugged her, burying his face in her hair and neck, becoming woozy with her scent. Could Samara be his redemption?

**TBC…**

**A/n: **Sorry for taking long to update. One of my past English teachers, one that always believed in me and made me feel better about who I was at one point, has just recently passed away. He was a Jewel of a teacher, one of the ones that really cared about his students and made class fun. He thought my writing was something special and it saddens me that he is gone.

Umm... on a note pertinent to the story, that poem is mine, Samara isn't actually a gift from Dumbledore and sory about the lousy editing, wasn't much up doing it thoroughly. Especially not at five am while feeling like crap. Anyway, hoped you liked the chapter and will review please.


	51. Talk About Competition

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 51: Talk About Competition**_

Severus and Cross both looked across the Headmasters desk and looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to say something to them. He'd summoned them both to his office after dinner this Thursday evening and he had yet to say something to them about what this was all about. Severus could only imagine that this was about the dueling club that Professor Cross wanted to start.

"Professor Dumbledore, are we waiting for someone?" Professor Cross at long last broke the silence. Severus sneered slightly at the fact that she's lost her patience before he had. He watched expectantly as Dumbledore turned to look at the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor with his twinkling blue gaze. However, before he could respond there was a knock on his door and Dumbledore smiled towards it as both Severus and Pandora both turned to look at the Headmaster's door.

"Ah, that must be them, come in," Dumbledore said. The door then opened and everyone watched as the Head Boy waved for Samara to walk in before him. Severus raised a brow, wondering what Dumbledore wanted to talk to them about that had to include the Head Boy and Girl. However, his thoughts were soon wandering to why the Head Boy and Girl had arrived together. Had they simply run into each other on the way here or were they together previously? "Andrew, Samara, so nice of you to join us," Dumbledore said from behind his desk.

Severus and Pandora both turned to look at Dumbledore who had stood up and was motioning for the two seventh years to come closer. Severus looked to his left where Pandora was standing to see that she was as confused as he was by the fact that they were being joined by two students. Severus watched as Andrew and Samara stood on the other side of Cross and noted that they didn't know why they were there either. Apparently, though, they had not expected to run into Snape and Cross in Dumbledore's office.

"You asked to see us Professor?" Andrew asked politely. Severus turned his gaze over to Samara, who was standing furthest away from him and staring at Dumbledore curiously. Her eyes seemed focused on the Headmaster, who was currently sitting down once more behind his large desk. Severus slowly turned his gaze over the Dumbledore, who was nodding as he turned his gaze away from the Head Boy and was now looking at them all. Severus felt the curious feeling, like he was a student all over again.

"Yes, you see Professor Cross, would like to start a Dueling Club and Professor Snape has agreed to co-sponsor the club. However, because this is such a Great Responsibility, I wanted to first ask you what you thought about starting a Dueling Club, as Head Boy and Girl the responsibility will also fall on your shoulders and as representatives of your classmates, I wanted your opinion before making my final decision," Dumbledore said as he looked over at the teens. Severus raised a brow as he turned to look at the Head Boy and Girl, wondering if Dumbledore always asked his students for their opinions. He could see that Professor Cross wasn't entirely pleased, though he didn't know why.

Severus tried not to think of her and focused his attention on the reactions of the two seventeen-year-olds. While Andrew looked positively elated and was looking between Dumbledore and Cross like they were gods, there was a drawn and apprehensive look on Samara's serious face. Her eyes were smoldering and he could see that she was slightly irked and he could only imagine that this was about the extra responsibilities that she would have to shoulder.

"That sounds excellent Professor Dumbledore," Andrew said excitedly. Samara cast a look at Andrew that caused Severus to smirk. He could see the thought that had crossed her mind in that brief moment. While Samara had the tendency to be obnoxiously impulsive like a Gryffindor, clearly her mind was currently working like a true Slytherin and was considering the repercussions of what starting this club would mean. He wondered if that was only because it concerned her and found himself smiling smirking even more. So Samara could actually be selfish, he'd never before seen it and he wondered how he had missed that.

"No offense, but I think it's a waste of time," Samara said, suddenly causing everyone to turn and look at her. While Andrew looked shocked, Dumbledore looked curious to see her reasoning. However, Pandora's face darkened, clearly taking offense that one of her students thought that something that she thought of as good would be thought of as pointless. Samara however, was only focusing her attention on Dumbledore. "I understand that learning to duel and proper form is important, but that could simply be incorporated into a lesson in Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Samara, there is hardly enough room in the syllabus to include dueling lessons and this should be fun, something everyone can enjoy," Professor Cross said as she looked at Samara. Samara finally tore her gaze away from Dumbledore and looked at Cross, trying to make her face look gentler. Clearly she did not wish to offend her Professor, who was clearly feeling defensive about her idea.

Samara sighed in what seemed to be resignation. "Well it would seem more worth while if there was something to gain from it," she said. Severus smirked and could see the way that everyone else was thinking about Samara. What a Slytherin to want to gain something from a club, however, he was sure that not everyone was viewing it in the same light as he was. While Severus was proud that she was at last showing some Slytherin colors, which he rarely saw, he was sure that everyone else did not like it.

"More than just the fun of dueling and the education of how to duel?" Pandora asked, almost as though she couldn't believe her ears. Samara looked over at her and fixed her with a somewhat confused look, like she was wondering why the Professor seemed to be taking it so personally.

"Professor if dueling is so important, then it stands that everyone should participate. But I don't see very many NEWT level students, like certain Ravenclaws and Slytherins participating when they have nothing to gain and have to work hard on all their classes," Samara said gently and reasonably.

"That is a very good point, my dear," Dumbledore said, causing everyone to turn and look at him. His eyes were twinkling. Severus couldn't tear his eyes away from Samara at the moment as she smiled at Dumbledore and nodded briefly while her cheeks turned a light shade of pink. It was quite different from the way Pandora was staring at Dumbledore. Her face was flushed lightly in embarrassment and her blue eyes were wide like she was in shock. Suddenly she turned to look at Samara.

"What do you propose then, to entice them to join?" Pandora asked, trying to sound calm, however putting Samara on the spot. Samara turned to the Professor and looked thoughtful for a moment, before her eyes sparkled and she smiled lightly. She looked over at her Professor and smiled gently at her.

"Well… if the Dueling club were something to prepare you and for you to practice, for say …a Dueling competition, where the winner stood to win some money and an award, that might increase participation among the older students," Samara said tentatively. Andrew looked at Samara, his eyes brightening more than before and Severus could see that Dumbledore thought that this was a bright idea.

"Samara, a dueling competition could be quite dangerous," Severus at long last said, causing Pandora to look at him appraisingly. Severs ignored that while watching Samara who finally turned her gaze to look at him and she smiled, though he could see that her brain was formulating an answer already.

"We could place restrictions and rules on the competition to make it as safe as possible. Anyone underage could simply have to have a consent form signed by their parents before allowed to compete, and the forms could detail the danger and warn the parents of the dangers that their kids might face in the competition. And the rounds can be made so that they are only about… fifteen minutes long and closely proctored by Professor Cross to ensure safety. The decisions of who won could be decided by a point system based on creativity, resourcefulness, speed, and form, judged by a panel of professors. And to ensure that students cease when time ends or when the proctor decides the match is over, a rule can be placed that anyone that who does not cease when told is immediately disqualified," Samara said quickly, her mouth working as fast as her brain was reeling. Severus couldn't believe that she was brilliant enough to think of this all on the spot. Even Dumbledore was quite impressed and Cross stunned into silence.

"Would there be enough time in the year for a full competition? I'm sure that there will be a lot of students who'd want to compete, how would we be able to make it work?" Professor Cross asked. Samara turned to look at Professor cross and thought for a moment.

"Well the consent forms will wheedle out quite a few students, and they should only be allowed to compete if they have passing grades. Is there are still too many, preliminaries can still be held during the dueling club, to pick one candidate for each House beforr the finals in the competition," Samara replied. "Anyone will be able to join the club and in the first meeting the competition can be explained and consent forms passed out to fifth, sixth and seventh years, so that the younger students are not hurt."

"That sounds excellent Samara," Dumbledore suddenly said, causing everyone to turn and look at him. He was now starting to stand up. "I assume that Professor Cross and Samara can hammer out the details as for the prize, that can be left a surprise until I have figured out what I will be able to do about that," Dumbledore said with a smile as he walked around the desk and motioned for them to take their leave. Severus raised a brow at this, wondering what the sudden rush was. Apparently the Headmaster had another appointment and had not expected this meeting to take as long as it had.

With that Samara, Andrew, Professor Cross and Severus all exited as the door was firmly closed behind them and they all found their way heading down the stairs. Severus was mildly vexed that he had to take time out of his day to attend this meeting, only to be thrown out so unceremoniously with the smallest of apologies from Dumbledore as he rushed them out, muttering something about the ministry.

"I suppose we should start working on all the details," Professor Cross said as she looked down at Samara once they were beyond the Gargoyle and gathered in front of it. Samara merely nodded at this. "Well, we should start now, come along Samara," Professor Cross said before bidding a terse farewell to Andrew and Severus. Samara sighed as she looked at them and nodded before turning to leave. Severus wondered what was wrong with them.

---

The opportunity to see Samara outside of class again didn't come until the following Wednesday during their brake. He'd noticed that all her time was being spent with Professor Cross and that neither of the two women seemed particularly happy. He'd even noticed that whatever stress Samara was being put under now, was causing her to break out. Her usually milky and wonderful skin as marred with small, red pimples, mostly concentrated on her forehead. There weren't very noticeable or very many of them, but he'd never before seen her break out.

"Samara, I would like to see you for a moment," Severus called out at the end of class on Wednesday as she was putting her things away. Samara looked over at her friends and shrugged lightly as she made her way to the front of the class and they exited along with everyone else. Severus waited for everyone to be out and the door was closed behind the last student before turning to look at Samara.

"Are you all right?" he asked as he looked into her eyes. He'd heard the previous evening from Cross that they'd already hammered out most of the details about the competition and club and were working on the consent forms and other forms that would all have to be turned in together and reviewed before the competition began. Apparently they both thought that a form requiring all the signatures of each students' professors in approval for them to join the club was necessary. If a student wasn't doing well enough in a class, a teacher could refuse to sign the form and the student would not be allowed to participate.

They had previously sent out flyers to every classroom and common room, informing students that there was a Dueling Club and that any student interested in participating and hearing about a Dueling Competition that would be held at the end of the year should attend the Great Hall on Saturday October 4th at one to get information on it. They'd also decided that all the forms that were required to enter the competition should be picked up in Professor Cross' classroom, starting on the 31st of October and were due to be turned in when all the Christmas Holidays were over on Monday January 5th. It seemed that they wanted to give students ample amount of time to get their parents permission, but not too much time so that they weren't all fully able to convince their parents.

"I'm fine. It's just, a lot I suppose. With all the homework, Head Girl duties and then planning everything for the club and competition with Professor Cross, I haven't even had a chance to stop into the Hospital wing to help out like I'm supposed to," Samara said as she ran a hand over her forehead and frowned. This was one of the first times that she had broken out like this in pimples because of stress. Not that she hadn't had pimples before, but never this many at once. "Do you have anything for zits, I haven't been able to ask Madam Pomfrey," Samara said a little irritably as she looked up at him.

"Of course I don't," he replied as he looked at her. Samara sighed as she straightened up and he realized she had been slouching. Severus looked at Samara and could see that she had grown bags beneath her eyes and that she didn't even seem to have the strength to smile at the moment. He grimaced to see how tired and exhausted she looked and could see why she hadn't wanted a Dueling Club to begin with. She had realized the responsibility that she would have apart from the ones that she already had. "What's left for you to do?"

"Well we're done for now. Professor Cross has to work on the instructions she'll be giving and ask the Heads of House if they will join Dumbledore on the judging panel. Andrew and I have to start organizing the Prefects so that there are two patrolling every Saturday the club meets and have them continuously alternating so that they all have a chance to attend the meetings," Samara explained as she suddenly yawned. She looked down and covered her mouth for a moment, before looking up and excusing herself.

"Samara, you should rest," Severus said as he looked at her in concern.

"Unfortunately, that will have to wait until Friday. I have homework to do and I should really return to the Hospital wing this evening," Samara said as she looked up into his eyes. Severus' eyes hardened as he looked at her.

"You should not go to the hospital wing this tired and I'm sure Madam Pomfrey would agree with me," he said in a firm and strict voice. Samara merely shook her head at him and glared. Severus could see that in her tired, stressed state that she was more prone to be temperamental. In fact, he heard from Cross one of the past evenings that she and Samara had gotten into a fair few arguments recently and that she would have had to give Samara detention, but she couldn't actually spare Samara for it as she needed her to help with the preparations for the Club.

"This is really your fault. Why would you agree to help Cross with the stupid Club? Didn't you realize it would mean that you and I would be able to spend less time with each other? And why would you agree to help her in the first place, you're not one to help anyone?" Samara fired off a little angrily. Severus raised a brow at this, wondering where all this had come from and wondered if she'd been bottling this up for the past several days. However, he also took notice of the way that Samara and Cross were starting to regard each other and he wondered if spending that much time with each other was driving them both nuts. Normally, Samara would have said Professor Cross, but she had just called her by her surname only. As for Cross, she clicked her tongue anytime she mentioned something unpleasant about Samara.

"I agreed, because she said she would take care of the _special_ lesson at the beginning of the year. I was the one that was supposed to give you and your classmates the _talk_ and I had no desire to do so," he replied tartly. Samara merely continued to glare at him.

"Why did Cross want _you_ to co-sponsor, what couldn't she ask anyone else?" Samara asked harshly.

"I don't know and frankly I don't care, it worked to my advantage."

"I'm sure it did," Samara said as she gave him a dirty look before turning around and walking out of the classroom, slamming the door shut behind herself. Severus stared at the closed door, wondering what that was about and what her problem was.

**TBC…**

**A/n:** Well that was the chapter and I hope that everyone liked it. Please Review!**  
**


	52. Imperio, The Possesive Curse

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 52: Imperio, The Possessive Curse**_

It was Saturday and Severus really didn't know if Samara was still mad at him, thought he didn't know why she would be mad at him, or if she was just tired and that was the reason that he had not seen her on Friday. However, as he wandered down the hallway, he soon came to a stop and peered around the corner he heard the sounds of a child's sobs. Peering around the corner, he spotted a small Ravenclaw girl, a first year names Bellamy Stanton, sitting on the ground in tears as a group of Slytherins taunted her.

Standing next to her was one of her friends, another first year Ravenclaw, who was clearly frozen with fear as she watched helplessly as the larger group of students picking on her friend. Little Bellamy, while being a brilliant witch, was subject to be picked on by her classmates because her glasses were larger then her small little face and she was self-conscious about herself. Severus was sure that her lack of self-esteem made her a weak witch and if she only had a little self-confidence that she would be fine.

Severus sighed as he watched and realized that he would soon have to intervene. While he did not condone bullying in anyway, he did think that it did build up character and some kids really did deserve to be picked on. Though he didn't think that Bellamy was one of those students, thought he did believe that the kid had to toughen up. The other day, the girl had burst into tears because she hadn't been able to finish her potion and had gotten her first zero in his class. Honestly, sometimes Ravenclaws really did bug him. They through some of the biggest hissy-fits if, _Merlin forbid_, they got anything bellow _Exceeds Expectations_ on anything.

Readying himself to walk forward, he blessed the sight of Samara as she came walking down the hall in the opposite direction. He watched as her eyes immediately narrowed on the group as she walked up. "Just what do you think that you are doing?" she asked as she approached. The five Slytheirns' eyes widened as they suddenly were about to take off. However, before they got very far past the two Ravenclaws, Samara had whipped out her wand and caused them all to be leg-tied, causing them all to fall to the floor.

Samara glared coldly at the Slytherins as she approached the two Ravenclaws. "I'm going to make sure all five of you have detention with Mr. Filch, and that will be ten points from each of you," she said. Severus grimaced as he realized that meant that Slytherin was now down fifty points. "And no running in the hall," she said as she waved her hand and caused them to be able to get back onto their feet.

He watched as all the Slytherins groaned, but one look from Samara caused them to shut up, and walk away. Samara shook her head and turned to look at the two Ravenclaws that were staring at her slightly suspiciously. Severus wandered if every time Samara stood up for someone they were going to regard her like that just because she was in Slytherin. "Are you okay?" Samara asked, while reaching out to help the Ravenclaw girl to her feet. The girl nodded timidly as she took Samara's hand and hoisted herself to her feet. "You shouldn't let anything they say or do get to you."

"Easy for you to say, you're beautiful, who's going to pick on you for being ugly," Bellamy said meanly as she stuck her fingers beneath her glasses to rub her eyes. Severus raised a brow at this, though he understood that pride often made you retaliate against the person that was standing up for you, especially when that person had things in common with the people that were picking on you, he didn't understand why Bellamy was being mean to Samara. Samara was being nice and sweet and smiling kindly at the girl and Bellamy wasn't the type to be mean to anyone.

Severus watched Samara's face intently, the acne had cleared up already and her skin was once more perfectly smooth. She looked a little confused as she stared at the little first year. "I'm not beautiful, and there are more important things then being beautiful, like being smart," Samara said gently as she looked at the little Ravenclaw.

"You are beautiful and being smart isn't good enough," Bellamy said petulantly. Samara stared down at the girl, clearly somewhat at a loss for what to do or say. However, after a small moment of thought her eyes seemed to brighten as an idea popped into her head to appeal to the Ravenclaw's better sense.

"Oh really? Do you think I'm Head Girl because I'm pretty?" Samara asked gently as she smiled down at Bellamy. Bellamy looked up and shook her head no at this, but could not respond. The chocolate brown eyes of the young girl were still glistening with tears as they looked up into Samara's. "There is nothing wrong with you and you shouldn't ever feel bad about how you are or try to change that," Samara said in a motherly kind of way.

"That's not going to stop them though," the girl said in a small voice as she looked down in shame, clearly feeling bad for the things she had said to Samara when Samara was only trying to be nice. Samara frowned slightly before smiling at the girl.

"What's your name?" she asked, causing Bellamy to look up.

"Bellamy Stanton," she replied.

"You have such a pretty name," Samara smiled gently. "You're a very pretty girl Bellamy, your glasses hide your face a little and that's easily fixable, but you're very pretty and don't let anyone make you believe otherwise."

"Really you can fix my glasses?" Bellamy asked, looking up at Samara. Samara smiled down at the girl, her eyes sparkling gently. Severus had to guess that Bellamy was a muggle-born.

"Of course, you can transfigure them to better fit your face and so it isn't hidden. Want me to try?" Samara offered gently. Bellamy nodded fervently and Samara pointed her wand to the girl's glasses. Severus could see a small moment where Bellamy was scared, but she seemed to push it off herself to think about how nice Samara had been and thinking that she wouldn't do anything now. When she at long last picked frames that went well with Bellamy's face, the Ravenclaws thanked her a million times before bouncing away.

Severus leaned back as he watched Samara proceed her way down the hallways and he turned the corner, nearly bumping into her as she was about to turn the corner. "Good morning, Professor Snape," she said as she looked up at him with a smile. Severus gazed down into her eyes and guessed that she was no longer mad at him. "How are you this morning?"

"You're speaking to me again?" Severus asked as he looked down at her with a raised brow after casting a brief look about the sun-lit hall before looking down at her. Samara turned a light shade of pink as he eyes turned away from him and looked around the hall, smiling almost sheepishly. Severus guessed that now that Samara was well-rested, she was embarrassed about how she had behaved towards him the previous day. She scratched her neck for a moment.

"I'm sorry Professor Snape, I suppose I was more stressed than I thought, but I shouldn't have done that," she said as she looked up at him and smiled. Severus merely nodded at this. "Well Professor Snape, I'll see you later," Samara said with a smile at him, intending to walk around him and walk away. However, Severus furrowed his brow and stepped in her way, wondering where she was going.

"Where exactly do you have to be in such a hurry?" he asked while looking down into her eyes.

"I'm going to the library, I promised Tonksy and Charlie that I'd help them with their homework," Samara said as she looked up at him. Severus scowled down at her in return.

"You yelled at me for helping Professor Cross in the dueling club and instead of spending your first free time in days with me, you're going to spend it with a pair of second years?" Severus asked snidely as he gazed into her eyes, glaring pointedly. Samara was a little taken aback by this, but she downcast her gaze, guessing that he did have a point. However, before she allowed herself to think much on that, she thought about what Tonks meant to her, the girl was like a little sister to her and she'd promised her that she'd help her with her assignment. That was much different than agreeing with someone he hardly knew at all to do them a favor.

"That's different," Samara said looking up into his eyes defiantly. "You know that Tonks and I have gotten close, me agreeing to help her on her homework once is far different from you helping Cross. You've hardly known her for very long, and you're doing her favors. You don't give anyone favors, no matter how much of a convenience it is for you," Samara said angrily as she glared up into his eyes, however, keeping her voice very low. Her voice was shaking with her anger and so where he hands which were clenched at her sides. He supposed that the fact that her fist were shaking was caused by the fact that she couldn't shout at him as was her hearts desire.

"I've already explained that to you. You don't seem to understand how much I would hate to give that lesson. And why is the Weasley boy going to be there. Since when do you associate with him?" Severus asked. The truth was he really couldn't care less about Charlie Weasley, his only real grudge against the boy was that he was related to Bill, who had once been Samara's boyfriend. He wasn't exactly sure why that bothered him half as much as it did, but it did.

"Don't tell me you're jealous about him too," Samara said, glaring at him and looking a bit disgusted. "Severus, Charlie is only twelve, that's quite sick." Severus smirked as he looked down at her.

"I seem to recall that you dated a twelve year old before," Severus said snidely as he looked down at her hazel eyes. She blushed at this, however, continued to glare at him. Now he could see that dark emotion slipping past the barriers in her eyes, that magma that simmered and boiled beneath the cool surface.

"I was a fourth year and I didn't know that he was only a second year. What is your problem Severus? When are you going to stop being jealous about that? He's an ex and I don't plan on being with him ever again. I don't want to be with anyone but you, I will always love you more than anything and want only you, no one else can compare, what more do you want? Do you want me to report to you my every move?" she finished sarcastically. Severus eyes flickered for a moment; however, he remained silent with his mouth shut tight, wondering when she was going to finish with her little tirade. Samara looked at him curiously. "That's what you want isn't it, you want to posses me in every way, shape and form. Well I'm sorry Severus, but I am not a possession and the harder you cling to something the more it slips away," Samara said before shoving past him and walking away.

Severus stood frozen for a moment as he watched her walk away. He stood, watching her, wondering hat she meant with that last bit? Was she telling him that he was going to lose her, even though she's just told him that she didn't want anyone but him? He stared in mild confusion as he gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. However, upon thinking about what she said, he grudgingly found truth to it.

Had not that been the mistake he'd made with Lily? Wasn't his possessiveness with her what had ultimately caused for her to pull away, it wasn't like people liked to be owned like that. Especially not girls like Samara and Lily, who were instilled with a sort of independence and fire in them which could not be tamed. While he found it quite admirable he also found it quite troublesome. Life would have been much simpler if … however, he didn't allow himself to finish that thought. He wouldn't change Samara for the world. She was docile enough as it was, and he liked how she was starting to come into her own, standing up for herself and others.

For a small moment, Severus found himself wondering if Samara was such a fighter, how she had possibly allowed herself to be branded like a cow by a man. Of course, she had said to him that it was one of the stupidest things that she had done and of course, love made one do many stupid things. Turning around, Severus wondered if Samara was unwilling to make the same mistakes again but allowing someone to control her so completely once more.

Severus sighed as he felt the beginnings of a migraine, he was confused now. If Samara didn't want to be possessed or controlled, why would she mark herself with an S? Severus still highly doubted that she was telling the truth when she said the change in tattoo was for Slytherin. Was there a difference between saying your heart belonged to someone and actually belonging to that person? Severus shook his head, thinking he shouldn't put much thought on the tattoo on the small of her back; it wasn't like anyone would see that.

Sighing heavily, he decided to make his way through the castle. Perhaps love would be easier if you placed the person you were in love with under Imperio. However, he guessed then that it wouldn't matter very much. Asking someone to do something and having them do it because they had no other choice, wasn't the same as asking someone to do something and having then do it out of the goodness of their hearts. Severus didn't know much about love, but he knew that to be true.

**TBC…**

**A/N:** Sorry for taking a little longer than usual to update, I had to rewrite aspects of this chapter while working on chapter 53. Anyway, please Review. I'll try to update again soon, but I think I have to rework 53.**  
**


	53. Haunting Words

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 53: Haunting Words**_

"Excuse me, but this is _my_student, he is in _my_ house and _I_can deal with him how ever I see fit," Severus said as he glared down at the Head Boy who was now shrinking away from him and nodding fervently as he looked at the Head of Slytherin. He mumbled an excuse before turning on his heel and walking in the opposite direction as Severus turned to the first year and glared down at him. "I will deal with you later," he said through clenched teeth. The first year nodded before taking off towards the Dungeons.

Severus sighed in exasperation. It was simply not a very good Saturday. After arguing with Samara, well it wasn't that much of argument, but the fact that their speaking to each other had been once more prolonged after she'd already apologized to him made the day seem very long and everything was grating on his nerves. He was just happy that the day was nearly over. However, that didn't bring him any closer to fixing the current situation. Was Samara angry at him, or where they ok?

"You're very possessive aren't you?" Severus turned to see who was speaking to him in such a teasing way and his glare abated some when he saw Professor Cross walking up to him. There was a smile on her face that Severus found strangely alluring, like she was saying that she liked that he was possessive or something. However, Severus didn't take much notice as he stared into her twinkling blue eyes. He was amazed that, despite the fact that Cross' eyes twinkled and were the same color as Dumbledore's, he was never reminded of him. As apposed to when he looked at Samara's eyes when they twinkled, which not only reminded of the Headmaster's but made an unpleasant shiver run through him at the uncanny likeness of it.

"I don't deem that worthy of a response," Severus said as he arched a brow at her as she came to a stop in front of him. She had a very cat-like way of walking. It was haughty, self-confident and… well… he assumed it was sexual. However, as he watched Cross flip her hair over her shoulder, he found himself inwardly sneering at her. As brilliant as she was and however charming, she was simply far too aware of her appearance, a trait he'd never been particularly fond of.

"Oh, Sev, what are you ever going to do if you have a daughter?" Pandora laughed lightly as she walked past him and patted him lightly on the shoulder as she walked by. Severus froze in his spot, wondering why she would ever think to say something like that. However, his thoughts were soon over taken by what she actually said and not why she'd think to say something like that. What _would_ he do if he ever had daughters?

---

_Severus walked over to the door and slowly opened it. He scowled at the teenage boy that was standing before the door, staring nervously at his shoes. The boy was pretty faceless and vague, but Severus didn't seem to take much notice of this. "Hello sir, is Dahlia home?" the teenager, whom Severus guessed was sixteen, asked. In all his years teaching, he'd learned how to guess the ages of adolescents and was fairly sure that he was correct._

"_No," Severus said simply as he slammed the door shut in the boys face and turned away. He looked up the stairs and his sight froze on the sixteen year old girl standing at the top of the stairs who'd apparently just emerged from a her room. Her hazel eyes were narrowed on him and looking at him suspiciously. Her long, straight black hair was lose and falling around her thin form, it was quite amazing how much she looked like her mother. It was like staring at a permanently angry, or sulky Samara._

"_Who was that?" she asked. Unfortunately, she had his temperament, and of course it made them clash quite often, especially as she was a teenager now. What happened to the days when she was just a quiet little girl? NO, she just had to grow up, didn't she?_

"_No one," Severus replied calmly. However, at the second knock of the door he gritted his teeth. He'd thought he'd made himself quite clear to the dunderhead that he wasn't welcome. _

"_DAD!" Dahlia yelled indignantly as she ran down the stairs to open the door. Severus watched in disapproval as she opened the door to the muggle boy, apologized lightly about her dad and welcomed him into the kitchen before shooting a death glare at her dad. Severus sighed, wondering when his daughter had picked up his glare and perfected it so. His mind then flashed back to when she was five and making other kindergarteners pee their pants with just one look. Severus smiled at the happy memory while shaking his head. She just had to grow up, didn't she?_

"_Just so you know, that's Jeremy and Dahlia wants to marry him one day," Severus turned his head to the couch where he could see Iris was plopped down, pouring over books. He shivered at the sight of the emerald green eyes that were staring at him intensely. Iris had a beautiful little, pale face. She was brilliant and had an intense thirst for knowledge that reminded him very much of him when he was her age. While she was like her mother in the fact that she was sweet and had a wonderful smile, the only one of his four children that was just like Samara was Junior. Who, was currently working as a Healer in St. Mungos. _

"_Is he a muggle?" Severus asked. Iris merely nodded as she closed the book that she was reading and walked over to him. She slid her free arm around him and gave him a one-armed hug as she smiled up at him. _

"_Don't worry daddy, you still have me," she smiled. Severus stared his daughter with a raised brow and narrowed his eyes in suspicion. The only times that Iris was affectionate was when she wanted something. She was a very manipulative little girl; she made her father very proud. _

"_What do you want Iris?" he asked as he stared into her emerald gaze. Her black hair was wavier, which meant it was more like his than Samara's. Severus stared at Iris, while he thought both his daughters were equally beautiful, Samara had been telling him a lot lately that Iris would give him more trouble in the boy department than Dahlia. After all, Dahlia's surly disposition and mean attitude made most boys back off. But Samara was sweet and nice, and the fact that she was manipulative made things worse. It meant that she would probably flirt to get what she wanted and would have all the boys wrapped around her finger, just like her daddy._

"_Marius wants me to convince you to get him a snake for his birthday," Iris responded, letting go of him and smiling up at him when she realized he'd caught her. Severus sighed heavily. Marius was going to be his little naturalist, Iris seemed was going to be his little Herbologist, and Dahlia seemed to be heading down the path to becoming a famous Quidditch player. Samara and himself tried to encourage them as best they could, but Severus didn't particularly like any of the careers his children had chosen._

"_I already told him that mum and I will think about it," Severus said. Iris smiled broadly as she jumped up, wrapped her arms around him and planted a kiss on his cheek. Severus sighed as he put down the thirteen year old and watched her run up the stairs, probably to tell Marius what he'd just said. Him telling Marius that he'd think about it was an unlikely maybe, telling Iris that he would thinking about it was usually a definite yes. He had a hard time saying no to his girls, all three of them. _

_Severus cast a glance and thought about his three kids that still lived at home. He smiled as he thought about his twins and how well they got along. Looking back at Dahlia and Junior's childhood, he wondered why'd they'd never bothered to get along until now. It would have saved him and Samara the years of trouble that they went by keeping the two apart. _

"_What's wrong Sevy?" Severus turned to look at his wife, whose head was resting on his bare shoulder and found himself lying down in bed, night had fallen beyond the bedroom window. He sighed as he turned his gaze back to look up at the ceiling, while holding his wife close to him. He still loved calling her his wife, with every fiber of his being. It filled him up so incredibly that he felt completely whole, despite all the years that had passed. _

"_What does Dahlia see in that boy?" Severus asked. _

"_Sevy, he's a good boy and I think Dahlia has found herself a good young man. She says that she likes his submissiveness," Samara said with a shrug. _

"_She can buy herself a dog if she wants a subordinate," Severus drawled. Dahlia was the type of person that wanted to control almost everything around her and was very possessive, she was like him in so many ways. Mostly Severus liked it, when he wasn't fighting with her, because it was the reason that so many boys stayed away from her. But apparently, she'd found a muggle boy who wasn't too scared to approach her, but apparently was scared enough so that she could walk all over him._

"_She loves him Sevy, you can see that by the way she doesn't suffocate him. She's a lot like you. She wants to cling desperately to what's hers, but like you she realizes that she might lose what she has if she holds on too tightly. And he adores her Sevy, so don't worry about Dahlia, she's picked a good boy," Samara said gently and reassuringly. Severus sighed as he nodded. He supposed he'd rather his daughter was with someone that adored her than anything else, even if it meant the boy was a little weak._

"_But he's so timid and meek," Severus grimaced._

"_But he's strong enough to withstand your daughter; don't you think that's a credit to him, love?" Samara asked. Severus sighed once more and looked down into the hazel eyes of his wife. Was she always going to be so wise and lovely? He placed a kiss on her lips, knowing it was for the best that she was. She could find ways to pacify him and ease his mind that no one else could. _

Severus sat up in bed that night and smiled as he touched his lips. If he ever had daughters, which he thought was highly impossible, he wouldn't want any other woman to be the mother of his children than Samara. If he had daughters, he was sure that they would drive him up the wall, however, he assumed he would be able to deal with it because of Samara.

Lying back down in bed, he stared at the ceiling for a couple of moments. He supposed that he and Samara really should have a little discussion about his possessiveness. He was not going to lose another Samara because of _that_.

**TBC…**

**A/n: **Hoped that everyone liked this chapter. I'll try to update soon. Please Review!**  
**


	54. Compromising

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 54: Compromising**_

Severus looked up from the papers that he was grading the following evening and was surprised to see Samara standing in the open door of his private study. He'd strongly desired to see her all day so that they could talk, but hadn't had the opportunity. After he'd finished grading he was going to pick up the quill and see if he could go see her, however, to see her standing in his open door made his heart flutter. "May I come in?" Samara asked gently as she looked over at him, her eyes twinkling. "I can come back if you're busy."

"No I'm not, come in," Severus said, putting down his quill and sitting back. Samara nodded as she closed the door behind herself and daintily walked over, taking a seat beside him. Severus watched her curiously, wondering if she was not angry with him. While she was not smiling, her demeanor was still light and calm. Severus eyed her curiously and wondered why she was there. He watched her expectantly, waiting for her to say something. However, she merely cracked a smile, leaned over and placed a light kiss on his lips.

The small little action surprised him so much that he found his pale cheeks heating up and his eyes momentarily widen at the surprise. Samara giggled lightly before throwing her arms around him and partially sitting on his lap while keeping her light arms looped around his neck. "You thought I was mad at you, didn't you?" she smiled. She didn't wait for a reply for she already knew the answer. "I'm sorry I haven't been able to see you until now, busy weekend. Though, while I'm not mad at you we really are going to have to discuss your possessiveness and jealousy."

"I realize that, I was going to go look for you after I finished grading," he said as he slithered his arms around her thin waist. She was partially sitting on his lap, turned to face him and he had to look up at bit to look into her eyes, which was a change from usually having to look down. Samara sighed as she looked down at him and leaned her head on her shoulder, taking in a deep breath of his scent and smiling contently.

"Well it would be unreasonable for me to ask you to completely change and unfair of me not to try and comprehend. Tell me what bothers you and maybe we could reach some kind of… agreement," Samara said, raising her head and looking down into his eyes. Severus felt slightly uncomfortable to talk about what was bothered him. Usually he just seethed about whatever it was but he never talked about it. Not to anyone as he thought that was weakness. However, as he stared at Samara, who was actually being reasonable and comprehending, he figured he better not ruin it.

Thinking for a moment, he wondered in which was it would be best to phrase his problems, or at least tried to think of the way that he would hate the least. "I hate seeing you with boys, particularly Bill Weasley. The very idea that any of them would look at you in the wrong way or say something to you…" Severus didn't finish his sentence as he realized he was tightening his grip around her waist. He noticed the look she was giving him and loosened his hold on her, however did not let go.

"Well unfortunately the only girl inclined to speak to me for some reason is Tonksy. Considering we both agreed to be very careful about our relationship I can't change who I'm friends with or act differently because they know something is wrong. However, would it make you feel better if I tell you when and what happens when I happen to see Bill or any of the boys?" she said as she looked into his eyes, the boys referring to Tim, Ethan and Nate.

Staring into her hazel eyes, Severus considered the proposition. Samara had never lied to him before so he'd never felt the need to use Legilimency on her, because for the most part he always knew she was telling him the truth. After sometime, Severus nodded in response at her. He guessed that he could start using Legilimmency on her without her noticing to know whether or not she was telling him the truth about what had happened when she was with Bill or any of the there Slytherins. Though, he wasn't particularly worried about them as the only one that had a romantic interest in her was Timothy Elias and he wasn't much. However, it did bother him that they touched her. He didn't want anyone else to touch her.

"I don't want anyone touching you," Severus said as he looked into her eyes. Samara stared in thought at him. Severus figured that this might be a bit of a problem for her, considering the way that she was looking into his eyes. He narrowed his eyes on her, wondering why she had to even think about this. His stomach tightened, just how many of her "friends" touch her and in what ways?

"Well Bill doesn't touch me," Severus raised a brow at this and Samara smiled as she knew what he was thinking about. "That hug at Diagon Alley was simply because we hadn't seen each other all summer and it was more of a congratulatory thing. I made it quite clear to him when we finished things my fifth year that I wasn't interested in a relationship while I was still at Hogwarts," Samara said as she looked into his eyes. Severus merely nodded at this, accepting this for truth. "As for Nate, Ethan and Time, I'm not sure I can do much about that. I mean it isn't very often that they touch me, but it happens and if I suddenly start getting mad about it now, they'll be suspicious. But it's not like they touch me inappropriately."

"The idea is that they touch you period," Severus said as he stared into her eyes. Samara smiled reassuringly as she leaned down and placed a kiss on his cheek, before making a trail to the hollow of his neck. Severus tightened his grasp on Samara as he inhaled sharply. He could feel her kisses burning along his skin, making him feel too warm.

"You have nothing to worry about, when I gave you my heart, body and soul came along with it," she whispered in his ear before placing a kiss on his earlobe. Severus hands moved to her arms and she pulled her away from him, shifting his weight at the same time so that she was now sitting on the couch instead of his lap. Samara smiled as she noticed his reaction and that she was clearly tempting him. She'd almost started to believe that he didn't want her. After all, they were a couple for a while now and they'd only really kissed a couple of times so far. "Anything else you would like to address?"

"Your free time is mine," Severus said as he looked at her, hardening his gaze. Samara blinked a couple of times and frowned slightly. This was problematic considering that her friends were Quidditch players so she would have to go to all their games once the Quidditch season started. Also, she usually helped Tonksy and Charlie when they needed help with their work. She didn't have enough free time as it was, it was all taken from her because of head Girl Duties and all of her work and than on top of everything going down to help in the Hospital wing.

"I try to balance as best I can Sevy, but I'll promise to devote most of my free time to you," she offered, staring into his eyes. Severus raised a brow, but merely nodded. He supposed that would have to suffice, for now.

**TBC…**

**A/n:** Sorry about the short chapter and long wait. I got a bit busy. Anyway, please review. I'm going to work on 55.**  
**


	55. No Longer Everyone's Favorite

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 55: No Longer Everyone's Favorite**_

The last week of September and the first week of October passed without incident. Even the first Dueling Club meeting, which was really just an informatory meeting on the fourth of October, was uneventful; though, Severus was sure that it looked like almost every student of every year had attended. Well at least most of the boys. He was almost sure that most of the girls that were there were mainly there to be able to spend more time wit the boys that they liked. He hardly saw any first, second and third year girls.

Severus had been pretty bored out of his mind as Professor Cross explained the club and the Dueling Competition that would be held at the end of the year for the older students. He mainly kept his eyes wandering over the vast crowd that had gathered. He noticed that most of the Prefects and the Head Boy and Girl were in attendance, trying to help them out by keeping the kids all quiet and attentive. Severus had a hard time keeping his eyes from wandering to Samara, considering how bored he was.

When the meeting at long last concluded, Professor Cross informed the students that the following meeting be on the 18th, in two weeks time. The following week of classes was positively annoying. All the students were abuzz with excitement, especially as the first Hogsmead weekend was scheduled for the Saturday before the next dueling club meeting. Severus was somewhat surprised by this as the Hogsmead weekend usually took place closer to the 31st, which this year happened to fall on a Friday. However, Severus didn't particularly care.

Actually, he was quite vexed because Samara would be going with her friends and he had nothing to do all morning. He wasn't angry with her, as he knew that if she did not go to Hogsmead with her friends they would think that strange. However, he was annoyed that while she would be able to be with her friends, he had nothing better to do than to patrol the castle. Which he was currently doing while wondering what Samara was doing with her friends in Hogsmead.

It was quite pointless to patrol the halls during a Hogsmead weekend, considering that the vast majority of the students were probably there. Turning the corner, he thought that perhaps he should head down to his office and get some grading done, but instead would up running into Professor Cross. "Severus!" Pandora said, sounding pleasantly surprised when he'd abruptly stopped and stepped away from her. Severus stared down at his colleague with a raised brow. "What are you doing in the castle?"

"I was about to ask you, the same thing," he said silkily. He knew why he was in the castle. Any reason to stay away from the vast majority of the students was quite welcomed to him. However, he would have thought that someone who basked in the attention that her students gave her as much as Cross that she would quite enjoy being surrounded by them. Besides, as a new Professor he imagined that she would be thrilled to go down to Hogsmead. He was quite surprised that she was actually in the castle, not that he allowed for that to show through.

"I wanted to finish up on my grading before I did anything else. Would you like to accompany me to the Three Broomsticks?" She suddenly asked, smiling invitingly up at him. Severus raised a brow as he looked at her and considered her proposition. Well, it wasn't like he had anything better to do and he was quite bored out of his mind. Between choosing to stay in the castle to grade and going out to get a drink, he thought that the second option had more appeal to it.

Severus merely nodded in response and turned around to head back in the direction that he'd just come from. Pandora smiled at him as they both walked side by side with each other, heading out of the castle. They walked in relative silence as they crossed the grounds and made it towards Hogsmead.

For the second week of October, it wasn't very cold and the breeze that was blowing was quite mild. Severus and Pandora both looked around and looked to the trees, which's leaves were turning color, it was something to which he'd never paid too much attention. It reminded him of something that Samara had said to him earlier on in October. She seemed to love fall, it was her absolute favorite season. She said that she was in love with the way all the tress were different colors and the way the sun would filter through the bright orange, red of yellow leaves and seemed like the forest was a sea of fire.

He on the other hand, he preferred winter. He liked the bleariness that it provided with the forever grey skies and snow littered grounds. While at times it seemed too bright for his liking, he found it more him. Besides, he liked the cold insurmountably. He hated to feel hot and didn't particularly like summer as it passed by in such a slow and lazy manner. He was sure there were may people everywhere who rather enjoyed the sluggishness of excitement of summer, he however, was not one of those people.

"How are your classes going?" Severus turned to look at Pandora and found that she was staring at him. Severus turned forward and shrugged elegantly. It was something that Pandora could not help but smile at. She didn't think that anyone else was capable of shrugging elegantly.

"As well as can be expected when you have a class full of dunderheads," he replied sarcastically as they at last entered Hogsmead's main street and started to meander through crowds of students towards the Three Broomsticks. Every now and than they would cross paths and students would turn and wish them a good morning, well most did to Pandora. Severus only got a few from students in his house. However, he didn't really care and while Pandora smiled at her students, Severus merely glared or nodded to them. "Yours?"

"Very well," she replied, smiling towards him as he opened the door to the Three Broomsticks and motioned for her to walk in. They weren't too surprised that it was chalk full of students. It was a little difficult to make your way through the crowded area without being bumped into, however, they both managed admirably to make their way to the bar to order their drinks and then head to a nearly empty table.

"Aurora, what are you doing here alone? Couldn't find a date?" Severus mocked as he walked over to where Aurora was sitting alone at a round table. Aurora tore her eyes away from whatever she was staring at and smiled at him, not at all insulted by what he said to her. She didn't bother to look over Pandora and pretended that she wasn't there at all.

"Better to be alone than with bad company," Aurora replied almost icily and Severus could tell that biting comment was meant for Pandora. After a month of sitting between them, Severus didn't know why Aurora barely even tried to be civil with Pandora. While Pandora always tried, the astronomy Professor was bent on not demonstrating the same amount of courtesy and Severus knew that something much deeper than mere rivalry lay beneath this discord. "Actually I came with professor Flitwick, but he's become a bit distracted," Aurora then said with a smile as she pointed behind him. Severus turned around and his eyes caught a hazel gaze that was staring at him with deep scrutiny and quite unsmilingly.

Severus stared at Samara and looked across the table from her where he could see Professor Flitwick was in deep concentration about what his next move was. A large group of students seemed to have gathered around to watch the Head Girl and their Charms Professor play a round of chess. Severus raised a brow at the sight, wondering what could possibly be so interesting about watching them play this game, especially as once more they were playing muggle chess.

Turning his gaze to Samara, he stared at her for a moment and could see that there was a very serious expression on her face as she at last turned away from staring at him and looked towards the game that she was playing. When he'd seen her earlier on in the day, she'd been wearing a pair of maroon robes. It was strange as he'd never before seen her in that color, usually she seemed to prefer black, white or green robes.

"What's so interesting about them playing chess?" Severus asked as he turned to look at Aurora who was staring at the game from where she sat. She could only slightly see the game as Severus was now partially covering the game from view.

"Pull up a chair," she merely said as she looked around him. Severus merely raised a brow and sat down, motioning for Cross to join them. She took the seat hesitantly, clearly not at all feeling welcome considering the way that Aurora usually treated her. The smile that had previously been on her face had now disappeared and she was starting at Aurora warily and with apprehension. "They've got a wager on the game. If Samara wins Professor Flitwick will sing a song during dinner; if Samara losses, she will have to begin playing wizards chess with him instead of muggle chess. Clearly everyone wants Samara to win," Aurora responded with a fond smile as she watched Samara.

"Professor Flitwick agreed?" Pandora asked shocked. Aurora cast a sidelong glance at Pandora and gritted her teeth, but merely nodded and turned her gaze back to the game. Pandora scowled slightly at this and thought Severus was because of Aurora, however he tried not to pay very much mind and turned to watch the game. He could tell it was Samara's turn by they way she was so intently staring at the game.

"I'm sorry dear girl, I see you need much more practice. Check Mate," Severus could hear the little Professor say and heard loud audible groans from his students. Samara frowned slightly as she looked over at her Professor.

"Wizards chess?" she said as she looked at him.

"It's not that bad, Samara," Professor Flitwick said with a smile as he looked at her. Some of the students were starting to turn and make their way to do whatever it was they were doing before they got caught up in the game. It seemed that the only ones that weren't moving away were three boys and hew knew who they were.

"Its ok Gumby, you'll beat him next time. You can't lose every game," Ethan said as he patted her on the back, causing her to frown more before rubbing her back and mumbling a thanks. Severus scowled at the boy, who was always unintentionally rough with Samara. Why didn't they ever realize their own strength?

"Yeah Gumby, you're bound to win one day," Nate said between bouts of laughter. Tim elbowed him hard as he put a comforting arm and Samara's shoulder and leaned in to say something that was lost upon Severus and probably everyone else. However, Samara didn't seemed bothered about the fact that she lost, so Severus guessed that she was upset about the fact that she would have to playing wizards chess from now on, which she apparently had very strong objections too.

"Quite popular, isn't she?" Pandora said as she stared very intently at Samara. Severus hardly hear the tone that she said it in or what she said as he was still watching Professor Flitwick and Samara shake hands while smiling towards each other in a friendly way. Apparently, from what Flitwick was saying, Samara was improving and that today's game was a real challenge to him and that he looked forward to future games.

"Well unlike someone Samara, doesn't like being the center of attention," Aurora said scathingly, causing Pandora to look over at her with narrowed eyes. Severus turned to Pandora and she seemed about to say something to Aurora, however Aurora merely walked away and walked over to Samara. Severus turned to watch Aurora and watched as the witch placed a hand on Samara's shoulder and told her that she played well while smiling down at her warmly.

Severus then watched as Aurora and Professor Flitwick made their way out of the Three Broomsticks. "Why does everyone love Samara?" Pandora asked. Severus turned to look at her and saw that she was still staring at Samara. Before he could respond they received their drinks and had to thank the bartender. "I've seen her talk to almost all the teachers. She even gets along with Professor McGonagall and _she's_ Head of Gryffindor."

"Well I don't know what to say about everyone else, but she's difficult not to like. She is an exemplary student. Everything does not come easy to her and she doesn't show off that she knows everything and her disposition is impossibly hard to hate," Severus said as he turned to look at Samara. He momentarily was reminded of Lily in the way that he described Samaras as a student. Severus was sure that Lily was too likeable too. Lily was impossible to hate, even if you wanted to. "It's obnoxious I suppose."

Pandora turned to look at Severus. "I suppose you don't like her?" Pandora said. Severus turned to look at her and wondered why she was asking and wondered how best to answer this without giving anything away.

"I don't like any students. However, I suppose there are a few students that I don't dislike and that she would fall under that category," Severus replied noncommittally as he took a sip form his drink. Pandora looked over at the potions master and studied him before smiling and nodded. If the Potions Master said he didn't_dislike_ her than she thought it was probably the wisest thing not to mention Samara.

**TBC…**

**A/n: I wanted to have this posted by Halloween and since I'm going out in a little bit I had to rush a bit. So I'm sorry for spelling errors and etc. Please R&R and have a happy, safe Halloween everyone!  
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	56. While You Were Sleeping

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Beatles' song 'Let It Be', which some of its lyrics made its way onto this chapter because it was one of the songs that they sang at the memorial of my Dumbledore, my Hero, Mr. Jones and it fit so perfectly. I had no idea where I was going with this chapter until it came to me with this song. Lyrics in Italics.

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 56: While You Were Sleeping**_

On Wednesday, Samara walked up to his desk after Potions. It was the first time Severus had seen her since Saturday and he was mildly peeved that she had apparently not found any time on the weekend or Monday and Tuesday to spend with him. Severus found, as he stared into her eyes, that he missed her terribly. While that should have been reason enough for him fawn over her, he found that as he looked at her it only made him feel more irritated, because it was her fault he'd missed her. Sure at any point he could have picked up the quill to see if she was available, however, he wasn't very inclined to be needy and much rather preferred for her to come to him.

"What are you so busy with lately?" Severus asked her with a raised brow, before turning back his attention to his grading.

"Well I had a lot of work to do this weekend and I went down to help Madam Pomfrey in the Hospital Wing all day Sunday and Monday afternoon because Gryffindor and Ravenclaw both had Quidditch tryouts and Madam Pomfrey needed an extra set of hands," Samara replied with a heavy sight. "As a result I had a lot of work to catch up on last night, especially as Professor Flitwick and I played a round of Wizards chess yesterday after breakfast."

Severus looked up to see that Samara was grimacing and that she looked rather tired. She then suddenly yawned. Severus suddenly felt once more that overwhelming sense of déjà vu as he was about to ask her if she was still planning to go to the Hospital Wing that evening to aid Madam Pomfrey. Before he voiced his question, he stopped himself. Hadn't they had an argument about her going to the Hospital wing while being very tired when he didn't think that was a good idea?

Not wanting to fight on the first opportunity that he had to see her in days, Severus pushed aside all his concerns and previous vexations. "You look as though you are ready to drop dead," Severus said as he now realized that there were bags beneath her eyes. He wondered why he hadn't seen it throughout the entire lesson until now. However, he soon reasoned that he had been trying very hard not to pay her very much attention and anytime he had looked at her he was standing quite a bit away from her so that it wasn't too noticeable that she was so tired. Besides, who looks tired when highly concentrated on what they where doing?

"I am, I just want to lay down and take a nap from now until Charms," she said as she tried to rub the sleep out of her eyes. Severus stared at the girl and leaned back in his chair. By now he was nearly fully acquainted with her schedule. After Lunch, she had a free period and then Charms. He also knew that just before his lesson that she had Defense Against the Dark Arts, so considering the fact that he'd given a long essay and knowing Pandora probably had also given an long essay and that she had two days to work on her Defense Against the Dark Arts paper, he supposed that she should use her free period to rest. However, he hadn't seen her in days and he wanted to be in her company.

Rising from his chair, Severus motioned for her to follow him. Together they made their way out of the Dungeons and traced the steps steadily back to his private quarters, making sure not to be seen by anyone. Severus led her quickly inside and closed the door behind them. "Feel free to take a nap," Severus said as he started to look through the books on his shelves to pick out something suitable to read while she slept.

Samara pulled her arms around herself and grimaced. The dungeons were always so much colder and as they were halfway through October it was quite a bit cooler in his rooms. As Samara had become used to being in the Head Girls rooms, which were much warmer than the Dungeons, she found that she was quite unaccustomed to the cold. However, as she stared at the cushiony, long, leather couch, she found sleep overpowering her and her knees get weak.

Walking over to the couch, Samara dropper he bag on the floor next to the couch before plopping down. After a moment, she closed her eyes as she leaned back, not paying to much mind as Severus picked out a book and walked over to the couch. Severus paused as he stared at Samara, sitting back on the couch, her arms almost hugging herself. "Are you cold?" he asked as he stared at her. Samara's eyes didn't even open as she nodded. Severus sighed as he removed his robes and wrapped them around Samara. He thought it was a good thing he always wore pants and a long sleeved shirt beneath.

Samara smiled as she was suddenly overwhelmed by his smell and felt his warmth still clinging to his robes. Opening her eyes slowly she watched him as he sat at the end of the couch and smiled gratefully over at him. "Thanks," she mumbled as she set her hair lose of its restraints. Severus turned and watched the silky black hair tumble down and had to force his eyes away to keep them from wandering.

Much to Severus' dismay, Samara laid down and placed her head to rest on his lap. Severus felt his eyes nearly bulge out of the sockets to feel the pressure on his thigh. Looking down, any dirty thoughts that might have initially crossed his mind vanished to see the peaceful look on her softened features and to see her eyelids closed. Severus felt a smile slipping over his face to see that Samara was tucked in snugly in his robes and that she was holding a fistful near her nose and smiling blessedly.

Reaching down, he gently brushed away any strands of hair that were in her face and wondered if she was asleep. He watched her for a few moments, studying every aspect of her face. He could not decipher as to whether or not she was asleep, however, he couldn't imagine that anyone could possibly keep that still and not be deeply lost in sleep. Severus sighed, wishing that if only he could fall asleep so easily. However, he supposed that whatever had caused her to fall asleep so easily was the fact that she was so damn exhausted.

Lovingly, Severus continued to stroke her head as he started to read the book that he had picked out. He tried to read, he honestly did try, but he found that even running his hands through her hair was too much of a distraction. He found that he was more focused on the feel of her hair beneath his fingertips and the light purring that Samara emitted in her sleep, to pay much attention to the printed words on the yellowing pages of his book.After reading the same paragraph for the fifth time in a row, Severus abandoned any pretense at reading and instead turned his full attention to the young witch who was sleeping so blissfully with her head on his lap.

While she slept with that blissful smile on her face, Severus suddenly realized that the smile on her face was that crooked smile he knew that she reserved solely for him. Staring at her softened features, Severus felt his heart swell that the smile that she had only ever shown to him, was when she was resplendently happy and at peace. If she opened her eyes and he stared into them, he knew he would not see the smoldering, magma that usually lay beneath the calm of her hazel eyes, but a gentle sparkle. She was only at peace, with him.

The very idea of it struck him down to his core like a lightning bolt through a lightning rod. He, ex-Death Eater, spy who had betrayed his best friend and murdered countless people, was the source of peace of this angelic child? No, that wasn't correct, she wasn't an angelic child; she was a Goddess. This Beautiful, extraordinary Goddess only found peace when she was with him? The very thought bewildered him to no end as he continued to stroke her head. He didn't deserve Samara and he couldn't decide whether she was really something good in his life that he had finally earned, or if she was only further punishment. Would he lose her like he had lost Lily? Would he destroy his only happiness?

Severus stared at Samara's sleeping form. He'd often come across her sleeping, but never before had she looked quite so happy in her sleep, as she did now. The content smile did not slip away from her face and Severus wondered if it was really because she could smell him and feel the warmth of his body encircling her or if she was dreaming. He continued to stare down at her, his heart beating for her and was surprised when he realized that it was already lunch time.

Not having the heart to shake her from her slumber when she looked so wonderfully happy, Severus merely continued to stare at her. He was lost in his thoughts as he stared at her, wondering just how long he was going to be able to keep her in his life. He hardly felt that he deserved Samara as it was and while she fought him in his reasoning, he was sure that she wouldn't take his being a Death Eater well. He was sure that she would deplore him for it and he didn't want that to happen. He didn't want her to hate him, but it wasn't like he was going to be able to hide it all their lives, not if he wanted his dreams of having a family to come true. She would see him, all of him, Death Eater tattoo included and he was not only ashamed of it, but afraid of her rejection.

Feeling his heart considerably heavy, he continue to watch the sleeping woman that adored him, though didn't really know him. He didn't know what he was doing. Running a hand, the one that was not stroking her hair, over his face, he wondered what the hell he should do. Should he tell her now and hope that she would understand and not hate him for coming clean? Or should he just bid his time and hope that the occasion didn't come up anytime soon so that he could enjoy his time with her for as long as he could?

He tried not to think of the last option, but that side of his brain that liked to clip his wings before he even had a chance to take off, spoke up and he couldn't stifle the thought. He could always end things now. They hadn't been together for very long, only slightly over a month and their love, while growing, strong and powerful, had yet to reach its full prime. He could end things now, before things became even more complicated and so that she could start healing her heart. He didn't want her to suffer anymore pain than what was going to be necessary and he knew that this was going to end badly. He simply did not see a good outcome.

Severus felt his heart already breaking at the very thought of it and tears brimming in his eyes as he felt an insurmountable pain of losing Samara. He stared at her sleeping face and could not picture waking up and getting up everyday if he didn't have her in his life. He didn't think that he could live if she hated him and she surely would hate him if he told her it was over when only a little over a month ago he told her that they would try.

Before his mind could further venture into his thoughts, Severus looked down at Samara who had started to hum. He furrowed his brows as he stared down at her and wondered if she had awoken. "Samara?" he asked softly, forcing his voice to sound calm and cool, but instead came out strained. He thanked his lucky stars that she was actually asleep and did not hear the uncharacteristic strain in his voice. Did she hum in her sleep?

"_Shine until tomorrow_," Samara mumbled out, seemingly in the same tune hat she was humming in her sleep. Severus raised a sleek brow as he watched her continue to hum in her sleep. Her eyes were closed and her mouth barely seemed to move. It was hard to really understand what she was saying, and he realized that her humming was the result of her sleep induced rantings. Did she sing in her sleep?

"_Let it be_," Severus heard her mumble something several times before he was able to understand what she kept repeating. When he heard the small statement and finally understood what it was that she was saying he felt his heart stop as he stared at her. Did she know what he was thinking about? He shook his head at this, thinking it was preposterous. However, he was nonetheless a bit freaked out. Was fate real and trying to tell him something?

---

"Samara," Severus said as he gently shook her awake at the end of lunch when he needed to start heading to class. Samara slowly rose and opened her eyes. She stretched and yawned for a moment before rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and looking over at him with a bright smile, looking much better now than she had earlier. "I need to go to class."

Severus had spent much of their lunch period watching her and contemplating the lyrics she'd sung, for clearly she was singing in her sleep. He couldn't stop wondering if it was fate that that song had come along when he was contemplating leaving Samara. "All right," Samara said with a bright smile as she removed his robes from her and hesitantly handed them over to him. She loved to wear his clothes, not because it was comfortable or anything, but because they had touched him, the warmth of his body and she wanted to be wrapped in that warmth for the rest of her life.

Gently he tooks his robes and put them on before pulling out his wand and smoothing out the wrinkles magically. "Samara, you were saying something in your sleep," Severus said slowly as he watched her bend over and pick up her satchel from next to the couch and sling it on her shoulder. Her eyes immediately widened and she turned a light shade of pink and looked down at her feet. Severus raised a brow at her and guessed that she already knew that at times she sang in her sleep.

"Oh, that… yeah… my roommates complained to me, that from time to time I sing in my sleep. Kind of weird, I know," she said as she bashfully stared down at her toes and scratched her neck. She then smiled up at him and amusement. "They all found it very annoying," she said as she giggled as she looked up at him.

"I'm sure they did," Severus said mildly sarcastically, though the corner of his mouth twitched and Samara took this as an indication that he was only teasing her. She rolled her eyes at him and looked away, still blushing that she'd showed him that idiosyncrasy. "Do you know what you were singing?" he asked as he stared at her. Samara shook her head and Severus guessed that like sleep-talkers, and sleepwalkers Samara had no idea that she did it. "I only understood '_Shine until tomorrow'_ and '_Let it be'_," he said as he stared at her.

"OH, that's Let It Be by the Beatles," she said as she immediately recognized the song and brightening up. "That's my favorite part of the song. '_And when the night is cloudy, there is still a light that shines on me, shine until tomorrow, let it be'," _she said softly as she thought about the lyrics and looked up into his eyes, which were staring at her intently.

"We should go," Severus said as he motioned towards the door. Samara nodded as she turned on her heels and walked towards the door. Severus followed behind, deep in thought about Samara. He supposed he should just continue to see how things went. Let it be.

**TBC…**

**A/n:** I hope you all liked this chapter, because I do because eerily enough I think it came out well. Sorry about the slow update, but I went to the memorial today and was out pretty much all day. Anyway, Please Read and Review. **  
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	57. October Rumors

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 57: October Rumors**_

The following days passed without hitch or event and Severus now found himself making his way to the Great Hall for the first Dueling Club meet in which the students would actually receive instruction on dueling and have their first practical attempts at a duel. He wasn't very surprised to see that the Hall was already full of students and that several Prefects, and the Head Boy and Girl were already there aiding Professor Cross. All four House tables had been removed and so had the High Table, where the stage had been set up for any demonstrations.

"Nice of you to show up," Severus turned to see that Samara was walking by him. As he looked around to see all the Prefects roaming around, trying to place some order over the younger students and watching the Head Boy attempt the same thing he was momentarily reminded of worker bees. Severus smirked as he looked down at the Head Girl that was walking away from him to direct a few students and walked up beside her. He could see that she was quite vexed.

"How long have you been here?" Severus asked as he looked at her. Samara stopped as she looked at him, looking a bit frazzled. Her sloppy bun had left more than the usual two strands on the side of her face lose and he guessed that the rest of her hair was falling out of the bun as it looked rather precariously held together. Samara impatiently brushed away the hair from her face and tried to smile at him.

"Well we had to show up like thirty minutes early to help Cross with preparing the Hall and not surprisingly the crowd was already gathering outside," she replied, like she was giving him an assessment of a war mission, while still trying to brush her hair out of her face. He smirked as he looked down at her and she shook her body for a moment, like she was trying to dispel all the negativity that was flooding her. "The second we opened the doors everyone mobbed inside like there wouldn't be enough room to hold them all here," Samara smirked while looking around the hall. However, the smirk soon disappeared as she turned back to look at him. Her face was very serious and stony. "Cross has been waiting for you to start," she said while finally undoing her bun and trying it up in a tight ponytail instead, before turning on her heel and walking away to get a group of students to settle down.

Severus raised a brow at this and turned to look around the rest of the hall were the students were all buzzing about. Slowly, he made his way through the crowds, most of them parting before him until he was finally standing before Cross who turned to look at him the moment that he approached and smiled broadly. "Isn't this exciting?" she said, positively brimming with energy as she looked about the hall as if she were amazed by beauty of something.

"Quite," Severus said sarcastically as he looked around himself, however Cross didn't seem to let anything dampen her high spirits. The students that were standing near to them were pretty quiet compared to the other students he'd passed, and were watching Cross and him expectantly. Severus turned his gaze away from them, as they whispered to each other and turned back to look at Cross. Her eyes were roaming the full hall, sparkling with absolute jubilation.

Turning away, he searched the hall to see what Samara was doing and watched as she approached a Prefect from Hufflepuff. Severus watched as she patted the Hufflepuff fifth year on the shoulder and said something to her. The Hufflepuff merely nodded in response before turning away from her friends and walked out of the hall. Severus wondered what that was about, however when he noted that another Prefect exited the hall, he supposed that they were only changing shifts and that the other pair of Prefects that were patrolling the halls would be able to attend the meeting.

Severus turned away form Samara and scanned the hallway. His eyes soon fell on Bill Weasley who was currently speaking to Williamson and the Head Boy. Not too far away from him stood Charlie Weasley and Nymphadora Tonks, surrounded by a group of other second years who had ventured to show up. Severus wasn't too surprised to see that Tonks was the only girl. She'd always been kind of a tomboy.

"Should we get this started Severus?" Pandora suddenly asked with a smile on her face as she looked at Severus. Severus turned his attention to the witch with close fitted light blue robes that stood next to him and merely inclined his head slightly in response. She smiled broadly as she turned away form him and mounted the pedestal that usually held up the High Table. Severus slowly followed behind his colleague.He was not at all eager to get this started with. He much rather preferred that it was already over with.

Standing side by side, they both momentarily waited for the uproar in the hall to steadily die down as the sea of students slowly ceased their talking and looked excitedly towards the raised platform. Pandora smiled at all the students as she looked out at them. "Now I can see that everyone is excited to get this started as I am," Pandora said with a teasing smile, causing a few people to laugh. Once the giggling died down she continued. "Now today, we will be teaching you proper form and Professor Snape has graciously agreed to help me with the club and therefore will help me demonstrate what I mean with Proper form," Pandora said, smiling over at Severus.

Feeling slightly uncomfortable, Severus held his hands behind his back and scowled at all the small faces that were staring up at him. He spotted Samara's face in the crowd, staring up at him with a raised brow and a look that really could chill anyone down to their bones, despite the smile on her face. However, he soon turned away from her and looked around the hall. He glared at the group that stood around the Head Boy and Bill Weasley, mostly other Gryffindors in the seventh year, who were all grinning mischievously. For a moment, he wondered if they were up to no good, but considering the Head Boy and a Prefect were both there with them, he guessed not.

"Now of course, in a real duel the niceties of a Duel are not usually conserved, however when it is for sport, such as it might be in a competition, they should always be conserved. It is proper form," Pandora called out to the crowd who were all staring at her attentively. They lapped up her every word and he could see that many were nodding over-zealously as they looked at her. "Professor Snape and I will now demonstrate," Pandora said with a smile as she turned to look at him.

Severus turned to face Pandora. With his hands to his side, he stiffly inclined forward in a small bow as he watched Pandora bow to him as well before they both pointed their wants to each other. "As you can see, in a duel you must bow to your opponent. Now I would like to teach you the disarming spell which many of you may or may not be familiar with. It is fairly simple," Pandora said as she looked towards the students. However, they both kept their wands pointed to each other. "On the count of three," she smiled as she looked back at Severus with a flirtatious smile. "One… two… three."

He'd been momentarily distracted when he spotted something moving out of the corner of his eyes and before he knew it he felt his wand slipping from his grasp and falling to the floor. Pandora smiled triumphantly as she turned away from him and looked towards the crowds of students. "As you can see, the Disarming Spell will disarm your opponent. Now depending on the force you place behind it, you can also send your opponent flying of his feet and away from you. Of course, I didn't, wouldn't want anything to happen to our dear Potions Master would we," she smiled at them.

Severus paid this no mind as he looked around for his wand. Pandora continued to say something, clearly having them paired off all over the hall by the Prefects who would be monitoring everyone to ensure that everyone followed the rules. Severus sighed as he made his wand levitate and float over to his outstretched hand with wand-less magic. Performing wand-less magic always gave him a small headache, but he wasn't about to turn his back on a hall full of students with wands at the ready, to bend over and pick up his wand.

Once having his wand safely back in his hand, Severus looked around the hall as everyone started to pair off. "We should patrol the students," Severus said as he headed to walk off the platform. Pandora merely nodded and followed him down before they parted ways. Severus and Pandora both towered over most of the first through fourth years; however, there were a few fifth through seventh years that at least reached their height and a rare few that were taller.

"Cut that out Miss Stanton," Severus said as he passed the first year whom Samara had spoken to who was clowning around with her friends by having a small shoving match. Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed that the Ravenclaw girls stopped and paired off as they were supposed to. Severus hadn't bothered to stop and make sure that they were going to do as he said for he knew that they wouldn't dare disobey him.

Continuing around, he monitored the students that were trying to disarm each other. Here or there he might step close to one of the students from his House to bend close and give them a pointer, mostly when the person of his house was facing off with another student because he wanted to show that Slytherin really was the best house. However, more often than not, he found himself taking points from overzealous students, mainly from Hufflepuff or Gryffindor.

Every now and then, he would pass a student that was sprawled on their back, however, he usually walked by and scoffed at them. "What do you think Cross did for Snape to volunteer to help her?" he heard someone say from behind him in a suggestive tone. Severus came to a stop and turned to look at who was standing near him. Clusters of pairs surrounded him, mainly dueling. However, his eyes soon settled on four students that were not doing anything, merely watching and observing.

Immediately he recognized the red-head as Bill, the Head Boy and Williamson. However, the voice belonged to the fourth, whom he didn't recognize by staring at the back of his head. Severus glared at them. "That's not right. Besides you know that Professor Cross is just friendly with everyone, its just the way she is," he heard Bill Weasley say. Severus glared at the back of his head; did the boy have to be so noble? And what where they trying to insinuate exactly?

"She's a big flirt, you mean. There is a difference between being friendly and what Cross is," Williamson said, and Severus could hear the disapproval in his voice. "I can't stand girls like that."

"Isn't Samara like that?" Severus maneuvered around so that he could partially see who the fourth person was and noticed that it was the Prefect from Ravenclaw whose name he did not know. It was a boy with black curly hair and blue eyes. He was as tall as Bill, and Williamson. He didn't understand what they were talking about and what did Samara have to do with anything.

"NO she most certainly is not! Samara is nice, there is difference between being nice and flirting," Williamson said heatedly. Severus raised a brow at this. He'd seen Williamson and Samara together a couple times, however that was mainly when they were younger. Recently, he didn't see them around each other very much. It made him glad, because he really couldn't stand to see her around boys.

"Calm down Eric, we all know you love Samara," Andrew, the Head boy said. Severus watched as Bill's head snapped to the seventh year boy, while the Ravenclaw turned his head slowly to look at him was well.

"You're in love with Samara?" Bill asked almost incredulously. Severus clenched his fist for a second and scowled at their backs. He couldn't see the expressions on their faces, however he could tell by the way that Eric elbowed Andrew and shuffled on his feet that he was uncomfortable and didn't want anyone else to know that. "For how long?" Bill asked still incredulously. Severus raised a brow, guessing that the red-head still must have some feelings for Samara and was having trouble hiding them. Severus shook his head, it was very typical of a Gryffindor to wear their hearts on their sleeves.

"First year," he replied as he looked up. Severus pretended to be monitoring a pair of fourth years nearby, as he mused on this. The boy Eric Williamson had loved Samara for that long? Severus thought about Timothy Elias and wondered when he'd first noted that the boy liked Samara in more than just friends, kind of way.

"I don't understand what you see in her. I mean she's pretty and nice, but I can't see her as anything more than like… a sister or something," Severus heard someone say and he recognized it to be the voice of the Head Boy. However, before much more was said Severus noted that Samara was approaching the boys and turned away to look at the other students. Severus was far enough away from the boys so that it wouldn't seem like he was listening; he also had his back to them. He was sure that no one would suspect that he was listening to them.

"Devon, you were supposed to relieve Kari five minutes ago," Samara said. That was the Ravenclaw's name, Devon Smith, whom Severus heard mutter something, before seeing him exit the hall out of the corner of his eyes. "Andrew, why didn't you tell him?" he heard her ask.

"Sorry, we were talking about Cross," Andrew said.

"I hope you weren't encouraging those rumors," Samara said. Severus narrowed his eyes, frightening away the second year boys that thought he was directing his gaze to them. What were these rumors she was talking about?

"What, you don't think something is going on between Cross and Snape?" Williamson said.

"_Professor_ Cross and _Professor_ Snape, Eric, and no I do not. Those are silly rumors. Professor Cross has a very… flirtatious disposition," Samara said. "And you two are supposed to be helping around, not standing here chatting," Samara said, slightly reprimanding them. Severus was sure he heard her turn around and walk away at that point.

"She's right," he heard Bill say. "Poor Samara, do you think that Cross is working her too hard? I mean she's the one that gets the most responsibility, and it's stressing her out."

"Well the competition was her idea. Cross just must think she's the most competent person for it," he hard Andrew say.

"Or Cross might just have it in for her," Williamson said.

"What would make you think that?" Andrew asked. "Everyone likes Samara."

"That's true. I was just throwing it out there," Williamson. Severus merely walked away at this point, not thinking he'd hear anything else of importance. However it had given him a lot to think about. What, exactly, were the students saying about his relationship with Pandora? And, was Williamson someone that he would have to start watching around Samara?

---

The rest of the meeting went on without a hitch. Every now and then he would pass by and hear snickering which made him wonder why certain older students were watching him strangely. He could have sworn at one point he even heard someone say 'here comes Cross' lover' when he was approaching. At the end of the Club meeting he made his way over to Samara as she exited the hall and pulled her into one of the empty classrooms without anyone noticing as Samara had exited long after everyone else.

"What exactly are your classmates saying about Professor Cross and myself?" he asked as he scowled down at her. Samara had been mildly surprised to be suddenly yanked into the classroom; however it suddenly dawned on her as she smiled up at him why. Severus could see that the smile was somewhat bitter and not quite as benevolent as her usual smiles.

"Well the rumors only started around the first meeting two weeks ago. I guess whoever started them just thought it was weird that you and Cross were doing the Dueling Club together apart from the sex ed class," Samara replied with the shrug. "The rumor is just that Cross is your lover and variants of that, but no one really believes them," Samara said with a shrug of her thin shoulders. Severus grimaced at this. "Hey as long as they're not saying I'm your lover its okay," Samara said, trying to smile sincerely, though he could see something strange in her gaze. It made his stomach tighten and pity come up in his throat, though he didn't understand why.

Severus reached out gently and cupped Samara's face before leaning down and placing a kiss on her lips. He didn't really know what had possessed him to do so, but he felt that it was the right thing to do for some reason. It was a soft and tentative kiss, his lips barely brushing against hers before he pulled away and looked deep into her eyes. He could see a shocked expression in her eyes before she smiled brightly at him, her cheeks a blossom shade of pink.

"I want you to take a brake from all your activities tomorrow," Severus said as he looked down into her eyes, remembering what Bill had said about her being over-worked and stressed. He had noted that she seemed kind of tired lately, and the truth was that Samara had a lot going on, even for a Head Girl. Severus felt that she deserved a break, and her health surely needed it.

Samara's smile faded slightly, "But Sevy," she started to protest. Severus looked down at her very sternly.

"You will report to my private quarters after your little meeting with the Prefects, understood," he said as he looked down at her. Samara sighed but smiled nonetheless as she nodded. There was no point arguing with him sometimes and Samara knew when she would not be able to get him to relent.

"I'll see you tomorrow then," Samara said as she turned to leave. Severus raised a brow as he watched her walking away. Just as she reached the door, he grabbed her wrist and lightly turned her before stepping closer and capturing her mouth one last time. This time he kissed her a little more deeply, allowing his mouth to take complete possession of her and direct the kiss. He could control himself, it was something he had to convince himself of. If he could control his emotions, than he most certainly could control his desires.

Pulling away, he looked at Samara's flushed face and smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow," he said, the corner of his mouth curled in the tiniest of smiles to realize that he had as much control over her as she had over him, and that was quite considerable. He then turned and walked out of the classroom, leaving behind a slightly flustered Samara.

**TBC…**

**A/n: **Hope that everyone liked that chapter. Please review!


	58. Lilac Moonlight

Disclaimer: Song Samara is sleep-singing is called...Oh yeah, "Baby, It's Fact" by Hellogoodbye.

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 58: Lilac Moonlight**_

Severus marched furiously down the halls of Hogwarts with his teeth gritted together and his clenched fists at his sides. It was nearly ten in the morning and Samara should have been long finished with her meeting already, so where the hell was she?! He'd already tried to look for her in the library and any other place that she might have gone to, but he hadn't found her and he knew that she wasn't still in the meeting for he'd already run into several Prefects.

As it was Sunday, there were plenty of students milling about the hallways; however, there were rarely any people on the upper floors. Well at least not on the fifth and sixth floors. It didn't take him too long to storm down the halls and students positively jumped out of his way, recognizing that their Potions Master was in a foul mood. He was soon making his way towards her rooms and before slipping behind the tapestry behind which the stone wall to her rooms lay, he cast a furtive glance in the hall to make sure that it was empty. This was the last place that he could think that she would be.

"Pomegranate," he murmured before slipping inside. This was an immediate indication to him that she was indeed in her rooms, as she'd once told him that no one was permitted entrance unless she was in. Slipping into the common room, he cast a glance around and could see that she was not in the room. Turning his gaze, he narrowed his eyes on the bed-room door and wondered if perhaps she was in there. Striding over purposefully, he leaned in close to the door, but could hear not noise from the other side.

He raised a brow as he wondered what to do. She could possibly be taking a shower. She did say that she had her own private washroom and he assumed that like his bedchamber it had to be attached to her room. Severus pressed his ear against the door, wondering if he could hear any further noise. "_My love is true, it's a matter of fact_…" he heard soft muttering in a sing-song way that was hardly even audible. Severus raised a sleek brow at this, feeling his anger slightly dissipating. He wondered if perhaps she was sleeping. Severus leaned his ear to the door once more and strained to listen. She was still muttering in a tune, however, he didn't understand much more than the words _true, baby_ and _fact_ as she seemed to say it more often than anything else.

Cracking the door slightly open, Severus peeked into the room and was amazed by the size of the Head Girls bed. It was the size of his, which was quite spacious. Severus looked around as he slowly stepped into the room and quickly took in the room. The room in itself was quite large and Samara's bed against a wall in the center. On either side of her bed there was a nightstand and a wardrobe on the far end of the room. Her room had large windows that bathed the room in light. Severus felt momentarily blinded as the bright light of day washed into the room and was reflected off the snow white coverlet under which Samara was sleeping.

Walking softly and deftly over to the side of her bed, Severus stared down into the teenager's sleeping face. She had the covers pulled up smugly around her, up just past her shoulders. All that was really visible was her head from the chin up and her hair was spread out behind her on the pillow. Severus raised a brow to see that she slept on her left side and smiled to see that she looked so angelic in her sleep, despite the serene expression on her face.

For a moment, he wondered what he should do and if she'd been sleeping all this time. Raising a sleek brow, he wondered if he should wake her, or let her go on sleeping. Technically, he had no real reason to be mad at her if she had been sleeping the entire time and the whole point of having her meet him in his rooms was so that he could make sure that she was resting. Quite obviously, she was resting, and he didn't see any real point if rousing her from her sleep. However, he soon narrowed his eyes as the thought about why she was still sleeping crossed him mind. He had always known that Samara was an early riser, and if she had a meeting to attend to, why had she slept through it. That didn't sound very like her.

"_Oh and you love me too, it's as simple as that…"_ she continued to mutter. Sighing, Severus guessed that he should wake her to see why it was that she was still asleep. Placing his hand on her shoulder, he lightly shook the sleeping girl. He nearly jumped back when she suddenly shot up and sat up right, the coverlet slipping away from her form as she sat. She glanced down as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and muttered something that vaguely sounded to him like she was cursing as her hair fell down her back and veiled her from view; the silky tresses slightly frazzled and knotted.

Severus had opened his mouth to say something, but found it simply hanging open stupidly as he felt all color fade from his face as he looked at Samara in shock to see for once she hadn't donned her usual pajamas. Her moonlight-like skin stood out shockingly against her abyss-black hair. The small mounds that were her breast were covered in a lilac bra, of which one of the strips was slipping down her shoulder. Her flat stomach was barely hidden by the covers that had fallen away from her body and the expanse of her back was covered slightly with her long hair.

His mind had gone horribly blank as he stared at her, and he could feel his mouth watering. Quickly before she noted, he snapped his mouth shut very tightly to keep from slobbering like an idiot and shut his eyes, trying to think of anything but the thin girl that had just accidentally exposed herself to him. "Severus, what are you doing here?" He heard Samara ask, slightly surprised. Part of his brain seemed to capture the slight rustling that she made and he wondered if it was safe to open his eyes.

Slowly, he opened his eyes and noted that Samara was sitting in bed, a little way away from where she was originally seated so that now she was facing him. However, she had grabbed a pillow and her long bare arms were hugging the pillow to herself, covering her body as she smiled at him sheepishly, her cheeks a very light tint pf pink that he found incredibly alluring. She was also running her hands through her hair, clearly slightly embarrassed of having her see her hair without it being combed; however, he didn't think it looked bad and found it incredibly sexy actually, considering other reasons why her hair might be tussled…

Severus shook his head of those thoughts. He didn't have the safety of a pillow to hide anything that he might be embarrassed about and therefore could not really afford to think of anything. "I thought it strange that you did not show up in my rooms," Severus said as he looked into her eyes and narrowed his eyes in on them so as to not allow them to wander. "You missed your meeting, I assume," he said in his silky, forced calm voice, like he'd seen nothing strange and like Samara was not currently sitting there like an innocent, yet sexual enticement.

Samara scratched her neck with one of her hands and looked away. "Yes, I overslept, I only had about two hours to sleep," she said, fully knowing that this would make him angry. Severus immediately narrowed his eyes on her once more, completely forgetting their current predicament and suddenly angry once more. It was actually a slight relief to him, considering now he wasn't being enticed by her body and was worried about her. He didn't understand why she didn't take care of herself! She always did this!

"You only slept two hours," he said in a low and murderous voice, causing Samara to look over at him. The blush on her cheeks increased as she tried to smile over at him.

"Can we possibly discuss this in a few minutes when I'm fully dressed?" she asked as she looked into his eyes. Severus nodded curtly and walked out of the room, closing the door behind himself with a barely audible click. He wanted to slam the door shut to let out some of his frustration with Samara, however, he decided that he should just seethe. Pacing up and down in her common room, he tried to calm himself down. Samara was supposed to be resting today and he had no desire to shout at her as he hadn't done so in quite sometime. However, it was hard to push away the fury that he felt towards her. He hated it when she did things that were not healthy or could possibly put her in danger.

Putting a stop to his pacing, he slowly turned his attention to Samara as she walked out of her room and closed the door behind herself. She was now wearing a pair of black pants and a long sleeved black shirt. It was easy to tell by her close fitting clothes that she had a body type that was slightly on the boyish side. She was very thin and as a result had small breasts a flat stomach and very thin legs. He guessed that the only real reason that her thin waist led to slightly wider and appealing hips was because she'd previously had sex and they'd widened a bit.

However, they hadn't widened a great amount. She didn't have the voluptuous, hourglass shape like many women he'd seen or what Witch Weekly's idea of the perfect body was, but to him she was beautiful. Though, he did think that perhaps she should gain a bit of weight so that she didn't appear to be like she was anorexic or anemic. Not that she did at the moment, but he guessed that her body weight was actually quite borderline and not quite where it should be. Shaking his head of these thoughts, he turned his attention back to the moment.

He could see that she'd combed out her hair and it was now perfectly straight, almost no hairs out of place but a few flyaway strands. Slowly, she made her way over to him and came to a stop before him, trying to smile at him, yet unable to meet his gaze. "Don't be mad at me Sevy, I just had a lot of work to do. I tried to tell you yesterday I couldn't rest all day today, but you can be quite stubborn," Samara said as she looked up at him. Severus glared down at her momentarily, this was his fault?

"Samara," Severus paused as he couldn't think of anything to say. Clenching his mouth closed, he glared down at her. However, before he could think of anything to say, she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his chest, taking in a deep breath of air. Severus stiffened in her embrace. He'd held his arms out and away from his body when he'd realized what she was doing so that she would pin his arms down at his sides.

"I'm sorry Sev," she said as she held onto him. Severus sighed, feeling any anger escape him though he still felt quite frustrated. Putting his arms down and gently wrapping them around her, he resigned himself. Bending down, he placed light kiss on the top of her head. He didn't know how she could pacify his anger like that. However, he did know that he usually felt emotionally exhausted for it.

**TBC…**

**A/N:** I'm so sorry I took so long to update, I kind of hit a dry spell. This came to me just yesterday, though I can't remember how. Anwway, I hope you like the chapter. Once more, sorry for the long wait and please review!**  
**


	59. Halloween Stories

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 59: Halloween Stories**_

The rest of October went by without incident and he felt himself and Samara ease once more into a routine. Samara's workload became something manageable, and more often than not he noted that she was better rested and in better moods. She smiled ever singe day. He couldn't believe that it still made his heart positively flutter; however he tried not to mind it too much and focus as best he could on his classes and his work. Before he knew it, it was already Halloween, a holiday he'd already begun to associate as a bad day.

"Where were you during lunch?" Severus asked when Samara walked into his private study on Friday after lunch; something she did almost every Friday, since they both had it off and neither one of them had been mad at each other recently. He was looking through the essays he'd just collected before lunch from the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff first years. He wasn't in a very good mood despite the fact that he'd only had the Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff fifth years and first years.

He felt Samara sit next to him on the couch and wasn't too surprised he hadn't heard her approach. She was still as light on her feet as ever, always silent. "I went down to the Hospital Wing," she replied. Severus merely nodded in response to this, not finding this too surprising, but somewhat vexed nonetheless while he finished looking through and counting the essays to see if everyone had turned in their assignment. He wasn't too surprised to find that the stack was complete. The Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs all almost always turned in their homework.

"You shouldn't have skipped lunch Samara," Severus said sternly as he scowled, once more counting all the essays to make sure that he'd counted right. The reason why he went through all the trouble was so that when he started grading and came up short, he wouldn't have to worry about having misplaced it at some point. It was the reason he needed to be absolutely sure that he'd counted right; it made his life so much easier.

"It was a little necessary," Samara replied. Severus at last turned to look at the girl that was sitting next to him with a quizzical brow. However, he soon had to furrow his brow as he noted that her left hand was bandaged. Immediately he stopped what he was doing and fully turned his attention to her. Slowly and gently, he reached out for her bandaged hand and asked her what happened to her. "Oh, well Professor Cross put several curses on objects and out objective was to test out the magical properties of each object and see if it was indeed cursed or not. This happened near the end of class," she said, motioning to her left hand. "There was a scorching spell on it and it burned my hand. I had to go down to see Madam Pomfrey because Professor Cross had no idea what to do and these types of burns are only curable with a potion. Madam Pomfrey said that my hand should be all healed by tomorrow."

"May I?" Severus asked as he looked up into her eyes, indicating if he could un-wrap her hand. Samara merely nodded in response to his question and Severus set about very gently and slowly removing the bandages. He was being painstakingly slow to keep from causing her further injury and because her hand had been so thoroughly wrapped. Even her fingers had been individually bandaged. It almost looked like her hand had been mummified. If it had been anyone else, he probably would have found it amusing, but he didn't want anything to ever happen to Samara and he was ticked off about this. Not that it could be considered anyone's fault.

When at last he'd gotten the task of un-wrapping her hand, he grimaced to see the damage. There was no an inch of skin on her hand that was not burned. Her entire palm as a fiery red and the skin looked monstrously wrinkled. There were points, like her fingertips, the hell of her palm and the base of her fingers were the skin was much worse damaged and Severus guessed it was due to the amount of pressure that those placed made contact with the object. The very center of her pals seemed to have received the least amount of damage. "Does it hurt?" Severus asked as he looked up at Samara's hazel eyes.

"Not really, it kind of tingles and is almost itchy, but doesn't hurt anymore," she responded with a shrug of her think shoulders. Severus looked into her haze eyes and couldn't help but find her amazing. He didn't understand how she was not at all bothered with the fact that her hand had been so severely burned and how she could still be so light and happy. Severus sighed as he turned his attention back to her hand and gently started to wrap up once more. When he was at last through, he placed a gentle kiss on the palm of her hand. Slowly, he looked up to see that she was staring into his eyes, a light blush on her face and a crooked smile on her face while she lightly nibbled on her bottom lip.

"Well other than the burn, how has your day been?" Severus asked. Samara sat back and curled her legs beneath her as she cradled her injured hand. It was more to keep it from being in the way than anything else. Today she had her long hair tied up in two pigtails, something that slightly disturbed Severus to look at. It caused to separate effects on him. One was that it slightly turned him on, what with the school girl outfit beneath her robes and all. However, it also disturbed him because Samara had such a youthful face and she normally looked much younger than she actually was. The pigtails only made her look more like a little girl and that was not something he found remotely attractive. Perhaps if she looked her age or older, he would be quite so disturbed.

"Professor Flitwick gave us candy because it's Halloween and Professor Cross gave us sweets as well," Samara grinned happily. Severus merely nodded at this before reaching forward and setting her hair lose. It was really starting to bug him to see her hair up like that. He wondered why Samara had decided to wear her hair in pigtails. The last time that she'd decided to wear her hair like that was when she was about twelve of thirteen. Samara on the other hand, merely watched him curiously as he set her hairs loose. "Why did you do that?" she asked, slightly confused and amused at the same time as she looked towards him with a gentle smile.

Severus stared at Samara for a moment, not sure how he should respond exactly. He didn't really want to tell her the truth about it. "I like it when your hair is lose," he merely replied. It wasn't a lie. He really did like it when her hair was loose. He didn't dislike seeing her hair up and he liked the elegant sloppy bun, which he didn't know how she pulled that off, she usually had her hair in a lot of the time, however, he didn't want to see her in pigtails. Not unless she could look much older than she was at the same time.

"Well you ruined my costume," she teased as she looked at him. Severus raised a brow as he looked over at her. She then opened her robe and shoed him a pendant that she was wearing. "I was supposed to be a Roman Catholic school girl," she giggled as she showed him the silver cross that hung from her neck. Severus had a strong urge to roll his eyes, but merely shook his head disapprovingly as he turned away from the seventeen year old sitting on the couch next to him as she laughed. "Oh lighten up Sevy, it's just a joke. Nate's idea," she said as she tossed the pendent on the coffee table before them.

"Of course it was," Severus said as he turned to look at Samara, who was absent mindedly taking something out from beneath her shirt as she stared into the fire. Severus stared at her curiously, wondering what the hell she was doing, when at last he saw that she was pulling out large chain from which hung the heart shaped, music box that he'd given her. He smiled slightly to see that she was wearing it and wondered if she wore it every single day. She absent-mindedly held it in her injured hand, running her index finger over the raised ridges of the web.

"You're always in a bad mood on Halloween," Samara suddenly said. Severus looked up from staring at her hands and the chain to her face. She was staring pensively into the fire. "Second year, when you-know-who fell you were absent. Third year you gave almost everyone detention that day. Fourth year you gave me detention for helping someone in Potions class. Fifth year you had the bloody baron chain up Peeves to keep him from doing anything. I think last year was the only year you weren't feeling particularly nasty."

Severus blinked several times as he stared at her, wondering how she could possibly remember every consecutive Halloween for the past several years. "I don't like Halloween," Severus merely stated, causing her to turn to look at him. He wasn't about to get into why he'd never particularly liked the holiday. In hid childhood years, before Hogwarts, he'd never been allowed to join in with the muggle kids in trick or treating, not that it was done in his neighborhood. In all his school years at Hogwarts, it was like Valentines Day, except instead of everyone giving each other Valentines; everyone instead pulled pranks on each other. He was a specific target, and the pranks they pulled on him were particularly vicious. In his years as a Death Eater, Voldemort liked to use the holiday to strike terror into muggles, and later on, Lily was killed on Halloween.

NO, Halloween was definitely not amongst his favorite holidays. Actually, now that he thought about it, he didn't think that he was fond of any at all. He abhorred Valentines day, it was far too commercial and yes he was definitely bitter about the fact that he'd never received anything. As for Christmas, as he didn't come from a very happy home, he wasn't particularly fond of it either. He'd never received any presents and he always felt even lonelier than the usual on Christmas. NO, he was simply not one for holidays.

"How do you remember what I was like every year?" he asked as he suddenly turned to look at her with his brow furrowed. He didn't understand how she remembered, unless she was paying specific attention to him, which he knew that she did not as she wasn't even in love with him until her sixth year. However, he did remember her saying something about him being her favorite Professor and wondered how long that had been true for. Perhaps she did notice him more than he'd originally thought.

Samara merely shrugged in response as she turned her attention away from the fire and turned to look down at the precious gift that he'd given her. "You're a little hard not to notice," she smiled as she looked up at him. "Besides, Halloween is my favorite holiday," she said with a grand smile. Severus raised a brow at this. He would never have imagined that Halloween would be her favorite holiday. "When I was younger I always wore a costume and went trick-or-treating in my neighborhood. It's the one day of the year that you don't have to be yourself and you get free candy for dressing up," Samara said with an enchanting smile that made his bad mood slip away.

"The year before I came to Hogwarts, I was ten, I dressed up as a doctor," she said with a smile, turning to look at him, just to make sure that he knew what she was talking about. "The year before that I dressed up as an angel, the year before that as a fairy. When I was seven I was sick, so I couldn't go out. When I was six I dressed up as a princess, the year before that as a little devil and the year before that I was a bunny, I don't remember before that, but my mom has pictures," Samara said with a smile. "I think on my first Halloween she dressed me up as a pumpkin and on my second as yellow duck and my third as … oh yeah, a mini Dumbledore," she said as she started to laugh.

"Dumbledore?" Severus questioned, feeling a bubble of hilarity coming up in his throat as he tried to think of that. He pictured a little girl, much like the one in his dreams that was in fact his daughter in his dreams, wearing brightly colored robes and a beard. He could picture a small pudgy little hand scratching at the beard while Samara's baby face was scrunched up beneath a wizard's hat that had long wispy, silver hair covering hers. Samara merely nodded as she looked up at him.

"My mum had pictures of it, but I don't know what happened to them. When my father moved in all the pictures disappeared," Samara said as she looked away for a moment. Severus watched Samara intently as she stared down at the heart in her hands sadly. Gently, he reached forward and pulled Samara into his arms. Contentedly, she leaned her head into his shoulder as Severus buried his face in her hair, breathing in deeply her pomegranate smell. Every time he thought about it, he didn't ever feel that Samara had a fair life. "You know, for as big a jerk as he was, even he enjoyed Halloween. I guess he had his reasons for being the way that he was, even with me," Samara said as she rested her head against his shoulder.

"You don't have to make excuses for him, he was deplorable," Severus said softly into her hair. Samara gently moved her head and smiled up at him. She stared at him with a fond smile as she looked at him.

"I don't care what he ever did to me or that he didn't want me. I hate him for what he did to her," she said as she leaned in and placed a kiss on his cheek. "But I don't want to think about that today," she said while placing another kiss, this one closer to the corner of her mouth. Severus smiled as he turned to look at her, perhaps this Halloween didn't have to be worse than others had been.

**TBC…**

**A/n:** Sorry about the long wait. I've had this chapter finished, but yesterday my computer was acting strangely and I thought it crashed. I was ready to cry. I don't know what happened, it's working now, so that's really weird. Anyway, I'm so sorry about taking forever. Please review!**  
**


	60. Ravenclaw Versus Slytherin

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 60: Ravenclaw Versus Slytherin**_

With the first Saturday of November came the first game of the Quidditch season. The school was positively buzzing with excitement that did not wholly pertain to the Ravenclaw versus Slytherin game. He was sure that everyone was more excited about the Dueling Club meeting later on in the day. It wasn't something that Severus himself was looking forward to, despite how well the first "practical" meeting had gone.

However, Severus didn't pay this too much mind as he slowly made his way to the Quidditch pitch, following the throng of students that were heading towards the field for that morning's game. The air was quite crisp and as it had rained the previous night, the grass blades beneath his boots crinkled a little audibly as they'd somewhat frosted in the cool air. Severus shifted slightly as he walked, rearranging his cloak for a moment to shut out the frosty air that was blowing over the grounds of Hogwarts. Severus liked the cold, there was something very cleansing about it, even though he wasn't particularly looking forward to the first snowfall, mainly due to the fact that with snow came the inevitable snow-fights from students. If he had a repeat of the previous year he would murder someone.

"Just let it go Aurora, we were teenagers!" Severus raised his head and narrowed his eyes on the figure speaking and spotted Professor Cross shouting at Professor Sinistra. Severus rose a brow as he slowly approached and noticed the way all the students that passed by the two Professor's, were tossing them curious looks while they continued on their way so as not to be caught in the obvious battle between the two women. Severus could see the look of indignation and hatred on the thin, pale face of Aurora and could see that she was flushed with anger and breathing heavily. Her chest was heaving and her clenched hands were shaking at her sides.

"I don't care if we were teenagers, I severely doubt that you've become a better person, I'm sure you are as petty as you have ever…" however, whatever she was about to say was immediately cut off by someone saying Professor Sinistra somewhat sharply. It was than that Severus was able to note that a smaller figure was standing on the other side of Aurora and judging by the sound of the voice, it could only be one person. Aurora stopped what she was going to say and stepped away from Cross and looked down, taking in a deep breath. "I'll see you in class, Samara," she said, before striding away towards the field, her emerald cloak trailing behind as she speed-walked away.

"Thank you Samara," Professor Cross said curtly as she turned her attention towards Samara. She didn't look at all happy, despite the fact that she was trying to smile in gratitude at the Head Girl. However, Severs could see the dark look in those bright blue eyes and he guessed that she was still angry at Aurora. "I will see you later for the meeting, please be prompt," Cross said, still a little curtly before nodding stiffly and walking away. Severus watched as Samara sighed, looking a bit exhausted, before her eyes fell on him and she immediately brightened. He was glad that by the time he reached the spot where the three women had been standing, the other two had gone and he was left alone with Samara. However, being as they were out in the open where students were still passing by, he couldn't kiss her as he had a desire to do every time he saw her.

"Good morning Professor Snape, how are you?" Samara asked as she looked up at him. Her eyes were sparkling. Severus wondered as he came to a stop before her and looked down into her hazel eyes, which looked more of a emerald green color than he'd ever seen them before, if she was still thinking about the previous day as much as he was. They'd enjoyed spending their time together, that neither one of them moved to go to dinner the previous evening and she didn't go back to her rooms until it was quite late. Severus felt a little guilty that he'd kept her so long when he was sure that she had work to do, however, her presence made him forget all about the fact that it was Halloween and made him feel like it was one of the best days of his life.

While most of the time they'd spent talking about almost everything, well Samara did most of the talking, Severus had enjoyed the little breaks where they would steel kisses from one another. While for the most part, they were small and innocent, there were a couple that were quite heated. Perhaps the most heated of their kisses was when it was slightly past curfew and she had to leave. He'd walked her to the door and she'd turned to look at him coyly to bid him a good night. She placed a soft kiss on the corner of his mouth, and as she lingered so close to him, Severus had been unable to resist the temptation to kiss her mouth. The kiss itself had been meant to be innocent, however when Samara entangled her fingers in his hair, he lost a bit of control.

He'd leaned in, pressing her body flush against the door and gently held her face with one hand, while the other rested gently on her waist. He slipped his tongue for the first time inside the cavern of her mouth and tasted it when she gasped in surprised. The heat of her mouth seemed to spread into his body and made the both moan at the simple pleasure. His heart had sped to an alarming rate and he felt a sort of rush that he'd never before experienced as she flicked her tongue against his. Severus could feel the way that her body was pressed against him, and the way that she moved her tongue made him lose his senses. Her lips burned his at the pressure with which they were pressed together, but she moved her mouth slowly. Her tongue moved slowly stroking him in the most sensuous way he'd ever experienced and it forced him to realize that Samara was a far better kisser than he'd realized and if he didn't stop, things would move a lot father than he wanted.

"What was that about?" Severus asked, trying not to think about that ardent kiss. He knew that it should not be repeated. It made him senseless and filled him with such unbearable desire that he wasn't sure that even his fear of her finding out that he was a Death Eater could bring him back to his senses to put a stop to it. NO, no matter how much he desired her, he loved her far more to allow her to slip away because he could not control himself.

Samara frowned slightly as she thought about what he was talking about. "I'm not quite sure. I was walking with Professor Sinistra to the Quidditch pitch when we came across Professor Cross and they started talking about the game and before I really knew what was happening they were arguing," Samara said with a slight shrug of her thin shoulders. Severus merely nodded in response. "I've asked Professor Sinistra why she doesn't like Professor Cross, but she's merely told me that they came to Hogwarts together and were in the same year and that they were always competing with each other."

Severus once more, merely nodded at this. He supposed that whatever really was at the heart of the discord between the two Professors, it was something that Aurora did not think appropriate to share with the student and perhaps with anyone else. Severus thought that while she was unable to be civil with the woman, whom she clearly hated, that Aurora did at least try to not say anything bad about her colleague to someone else. After all, Severus had never heard Aurora tell him something negative about Cross, though she did say it to her face. Severus wondered why that was.

"Well I think we should head to the stands," Severus said as a harsh wind suddenly swept past them and caused her hair to blow all over the place as it was loose. Severus himself had to push the hair out of his face, once the wind had passed to be able to see right again. He almost smiled and reached out to help Samara with hers, however, stopped himself before he even made a move to read out by reminding himself that they were out in the open. Instead, he conformed himself with simply watching Samara push away the sleek strands of raven black hair out of her face as she smiled at him. She merely nodded in response to his question and turned to walk with him. When they reached the bottom of the stands, they split up with curt nods to one another, though Samara smiled gently at him before running up to the students stands.

Severus tried very hard not to smile when he turned away and steadily made his way up to the teacher's stands. When he reached the top, he looked around for the closest empty seat and found himself sitting next to Pandora. "Good morning Severus," she smiled at him, her cheeks slightly rosy from the cold. Severus nodded to her in response and noted how her hair was strangely all in place. She had tied her soft, strawberry tendrils into a half ponytail and not a hair moved out of place when the wind blew. He supposed that she'd placed a charm on her hair so that the elements would not affect it. "Good luck," she smiled at him as Hooch came onto the field.

"I'm afraid Ravenclaw will need good luck more than Slytherin," Severus sneered at her as he turned to the field and noted that both teams were already up in the air and were waiting for Hooch to start the game. In return to his cocky response, Pandora merely laughed lightly, her enchanting laugh of course as she placed a hand on his arm. Severus didn't pay this too much mind as his eyes quickly swept over the teacher's box. Dumbledore was sitting in his special chair just before where he and Cross were sitting and next to him sat Professor McGonagall, who was keeping close watch of the student doing the commentating, a very thin, big-mouthed, Slytherin fifth year by the name Benedict Wielding.

"Care to make a wager on that?" Pandora asked as she looked at him with a charming smile. Severus turned to her and raised a brow. Down in the field, Madam Hooch was giving her usual speech to the players about the type of game that she wanted out of them. Knowing Hooch she was going to say something very curt and to the point. She was not one to mince words. Severus had never particularly liked how bold and direct she was, though for the most part he found it amusing.

"What do you have in mind?" he asked as he stared at her. She smiled as she pretended to think about it for a moment and hummed slightly. Severus stared at the woman in amusement. She really was quite charming and looked quite splendid. Currently, the night-blue robes that she was wearing made her strawberry blonde hair stand out shockingly against the dark robes and made her eyes seem much brighter.

"Drinks at the three broomsticks, loser pays," Pandora said as she looked at him. Severus merely nodded in consent and they shook hands as Professor Hooch blew the whistle and they turned their full attention to the game. This wasn't the first game he'd made a "friendly" wager on. In fact, there had been a great many in the past between himself and Minerva McGonagall. However, he supposed those had a little worse outcomes for the loser than his current wager with Cross.

---

The Quidditch match didn't last too long afterwards. Despite how much of a goof of as Nate Mathews was, he was able to focus on games quite intensely and his black eyes, once latching onto the snitch, did not let it out of his sight. In the end, the game was no more than twenty minutes long and Slytherin beat Ravenclaw with a whopping score of 170 to 10. Cross wasn't upset about the defeat and smiled graciously and they both decided that they would head to the Three Broomsticks later in the evening.

For the remainder of the day, time seemed to pass rather slowly. He didn't have much of an opportunity to see Samara in between the time of the game and the Dueling Club and he guessed that had a lot to do with the fact that she was catching up on the work that she hadn't done on Friday to be with him. He spent much of that time wandering the halls, until it was time for the Dueling Club. Once that came around, it passed in much the same way as the previous and there didn't seem to be any problems so Severus didn't find it particularly interesting. He was mainly bored as he monitored the students when they practiced and his gaze was often wandering over to what Samara was doing.

Often he spotted her stooping close to the younger students and helping them, or occasionally telling one of the Prefects that it was their turn to patrol. Severus was quite happy that it was never Samara that approached Bill and he wondered for a moment if that was because of him, if she did it for him. It somewhat warmed his heart to think that it was. However, he did note, ever since the previous meeting that she was completely unaware of the feelings that Williamson apparently had for her. Though he would guess that she would be, as for the most part Williamson wasn't around her all that much and when he was he treated her in the way that he treated other girls.

Grudgingly, Severus had to admit that Williamson was rather gentlemanly and noble, just like the Weasley kid. While it bothered Severus, he also had to guess that it wasn't too bad, at least that meant that neither of them would try anything with Samara. However, Williamson's feelings towards Samara bothered him more than Timothy's feelings for her. At least he knew that Timothy would never have a hope of Samara even looking at him. While the boy was handsome, he was considered far too meek for anyone to pay too much attention to him. Though, Severus did on the occasion notice one of the younger girls looking at the boy wistfully.

When the meeting was over, Severus headed down to the dungeons to grade for a coupe hours until it was time for dinner, after which he and Pandora would head over to Hogsmead for a couple of drinks. He was halfway through grading the fifth years essays, grudgingly giving Bill an "E" on his essay when he heard a light knock on his door. "Come in," he called out from behind his desk as he turned his gaze to the next essay. He didn't bother to look up and see who had walked in and waited patiently while reading for whoever it was to make the slightest of indications of their presence.

Instead, he found himself very shocked when whoever it was removed the essay from his grasp. Severus looked up, about to be vexed when he noted that it was Samara. She smiled pleasantly as his surprised face before placing the essay down and taking a seat on his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I thought that I should tell you that I would be in the Slytherin common room tonight. They are going to be celebrating the victory over Ravenclaw," Samara said as she looked into his eyes, before leaning in and placing a light kiss on his lips. "I'll be on my best behavior," she said somewhat huskily as she leaned in and placed another chaste kiss, this time capturing his bottom lip between hers.

Severus shifted a little, feeling desire begin to cloud him and he forced himself to push her away slightly. He had to clear his throat before he was able to say anything and he hoped his face was far more composed than he felt. "I suppose that's just as well," he said calmly, pleasing himself by how composed he actually sounded. Samara furrowed her bow in slight confusion and tilted her head.

"What do you mean?" she asked as she looked into his black eyes. Severus reached out and tucked a strand of black hair out of her face. She still had her hair lose, and for a moment, he wondered why all day he had not seen her with her hair tied up. He found it a little strange as Samara only let her hair lose when she wasn't doing any activity at all, however, considering that she was kind of doing something during the club, the fact that she hadn't tied it made him wonder. For a moment, he thought back to the previous day when he'd told her that he liked her hair down and he wondered if that was the reason why.

"Professor Cross and I made a wager on the game. She lost and she owes me a drink, so we'll be heading into Hogsmead," he replied simply. He saw Samara's face darken with an emotion he'd never seen on her beautiful face before and therefore did not recognize. Her left brow rose slightly, in a way that somewhat scared him as she momentarily clenched her jaw and inhaled sharply. After a moment she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She shook her head and tried to smile, however, he could see how tight it was and wondered what was wrong with her.

"Are you trying to encourage the rumors going on around you?" she asked, trying to sound amused, but he could hear slight undertones in the way that she said it. They were so subtle that they were hardly at all noticeable and hard to catch, but for someone who made it his job to study and read others, he could see that Samara was slightly bothered, though he did not understand why. Severus merely tried to ignore whatever it was and leaned in to place a kiss on her lips, before placing one on her jaw. Her skin felt delicious against his lips and it seemed to beg for more.

"We're colleagues, how ever your dunderhead classmates misconstrue it is not my problem," he said silkily having his hot breath caress her skin and not stopping the trail of kisses he was placing on her jaw on the way to her neck. Her smell was intoxicating him and he simply wanted to lap up and taste all of her. Continuing on his trail, he felt the way that Samara's body, which had stiffened for a moment started to relax and that her breathing had altered a bit. He smiled into the crook of her neck as he reached it and placed an open-mouthed kiss on it.

"If you say so Sevy," Samara said as she pushed him away. "I'll see you tomorrow, perhaps than. I'm going to start heading to dinner. Be careful," she said as she stood up. She placed a kiss on his forehead and then turned to leave, exiting his office in a few quick strides and closing the door behind herself with a soft click. Severus stared at the closed door for a moment, wondering if she was all right. Usually she smiled at him; however, she was not smiling when she left. And what was with the last thing she said? Did she really think that something might happen to him on the short trip there and back?

---

"Ready?" Severus turned to look at Pandora and merely nodded in response. They'd agreed to meet in the Entrance hall an hour after dinner. "So how has your day been?" Pandora asked pleasantly as they made their way out of the castle and into the cool evening. Severus found that since Samara had come into see him that all his thoughts were on her. His eyes kept wandering over to her during dinner and she looked very preoccupied, though she did try her best to listen to her excited friends, who were undoubtedly telling her about the Quidditch game in the morning, relieving the victory.

"As well as it has been for the rest of Slytherin," he replied with a sneer on his face. Pandora looked over at him and raised a brow as she gently swatted him on the arm. Severus raised a brow at her and could see the smile on her face. He wondered what it was about Cross that compelled her to touch people. He'd never particularly cared for being touched by anyone and she seemed to do it quite often, at least in comparison to others, not including Samara. It was the reason he tried his best to ignore it.

"I suppose I may have underestimated Nate," Pandora said with a small smile as they walked across the grounds. Severus couldn't help but notice the fast pace at which she walked in and wondered if she usually walked this way or is she was trying to get out of the cold. He noted earlier during the game that she didn't particularly like cold weather. He supposed that her favorite season had to be spring or summer; however, he really didn't care to ask. "I was actually very surprised to see that he was on the team, actually."

"I was more surprised at his ability to pay attention for more than three seconds to anything," Severus said dryly as they cleared the gates and wound their way towards the village. They would make it there in no time at the pace they were walking. Pandora giggled slightly, trying to cover it up. Clearly she found him making fun of a student amusing, but didn't really approve of making fun of them, at least not openly. She smiled as she tossed a look out of the corner of her eyes at him.

"Well, I'm not sure how he is in your class, but he pays attention in mine," she said as she looked at him. They were already making their way into Hogsmead and over to the Three Broomsticks. Severus came to a stop outside the Three Broomsticks and opened the door, holding it open for her to step inside.

"I'm sure he does," he replied as he looked into her shining blue eyes. Pandora smiled flirtatiously at him, her cheeks becoming slightly tinted as she thanked him and stepped into the warmth of the bar. Severus stepped in after her and helped her out of her traveling cloak and hanging it up before removing his and hanging it up next to hers. The Three Broomsticks only had a few people inside and as he and Pandora made their way through to an empty table without having to weave through crowds, Severus was reminded why he preferred to come when the village was not infested with students.

"I hope that you don't mind the brisk walk, I'm afraid I don't have much tolerance for the cold," Pandora said as she sat down at the table,while he sat opposite of her. Severus merely nodded in response as Madam Rosmerta greeted them warmly asking them if she could get them anything. "I'll have a glass of Ellvish Wine," Pandora said with a smile to Madam Rosmerta. She then turned to look at Severus and smiled at him. "What will you have Severus?" she asked as she looked over at him.

"A glass of Firewhisky," he said as he looked over at Rosmerta. She nodded and turned to get their drinks. He then turned to Pandora. "I really shouldn't stay long. Slytherin is of course celebrating the victory and I should not stay away too long. Who knows what havoc they'll reek," Severus said as he looked at her. Pandora merely nodded at this, though her smile slipped down a tiny centimeter.

At that moment, Madam Rosmerta returned and placed their drinks on their table. Pandora softly thanked her before taking a sip of her wine. Severus merely picked up his glass and studied the liquid inside for a moment before deciding to take a sip. "Are you paranoid you'll be poisoned?" Pandora teased as she looked over at him, smiling in that vixen way of hers. Severus raised a brow at this as he took another sip and placed it down.

"Unlike you, we do not fall into the good graces of everyone," Severus replied silkily before taking another sip of his drink. Pandora watched over the rim of her glass and was smiling at him. Her eyes were fixed very attentively on his hand as they brought his glass to his lips and watched him as he tilted the glass.

"You've fallen into mine," she said lowly that it was hardly audible as she smiled at him. Severus almost missed it, but when he caught it he felt slightly confused. He didn't understand what she meant. However, before he could even think to respond he heard someone call out their names.

He turned around and raised a brow when he saw that Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick and Professor Dumbledore were walking over to them. He didn't like the way that Dumbledore was looking at them with his sparkling eyes and was glad when he heard Pandora ask for them to join them, though he noted that there was something slightly strange about her tone. McGonagall was looking between her two colleagues for a moment as they all sat down and suddenly Severus felt uncomfortable. Did his colleagues know about the rumors that were flying around about them? Did they perhaps, believe them?

"Congratulations on the victory Severus," Professor McGonagall said. Severus merely nodded at her, not liking the queer look of amusement she was giving him. He downed the rest of his drink as he looked over at Dumbledore who was smiling pleasantly at Madam Rosmerta who was walking over.

"Albus, Minerva, Filius, what a pleasant surprise, what can I get you?" Rosmerta asked brightly. Severus paid no mind as he looked over at Cross who shrugged in amusement as they all ordered their drinks. "What about you Professor Snape, another Firewhisky?" Severus looked over at Madam Rosmerta who was smiling at him. They weren't on first name basis and the bar tender seemed to know the professor well enough to be formal with him. Severus merely shook his head in response and watched her walk away to get their drinks.

"I should be going actually, I have to check up on Slytherin," he said as he began to rise from his chair.

"Come now Severus, you should let them have a bit more fun," Albus said cheerily as he looked over at the Potions Master. Severus raised a brow and looked over at Dumbledore with a stern look. He didn't like to be told by anyone how to run his House, not even by the Headmaster himself.

"I'd rather prefer Slytherin not be destroyed when I get back," he said tartly, putting an end to that discussion. His eyes turned to Pandora who had made a move to rise.

"I'll go with you, so you don't have to walk back alone," Pandora said with a gentle smile.

"Thank you, but that won't be necessary. I will apparate and that will make my trip a lot quicker," he said as he stared at her. She gave him that look that screamed the question, are you sure. "You should stay, enjoy the evening," Severus said, causing her to sit back down for she had partially risen, with a resigned look on her face. He then turned his attention to everyone else and wished them a good evening before turning on his heel and grabbing his cloak. He put it on in one languid movement while opening the door and slipping out into the cool night.

As soon as he stepped outside he took out his wand and apparated to just outside the gates of Hogwarts and made his way very briskly up to the castle. Severus found himself very relieved to get away from all his colleagues. Never having been a greatly social person, he didn't really like to be in social situations where there was more than one person. He always felt like he didn't belong and was very out of place. Usually the fact that he was never able to say anything made him feel more ostracized and when someone tried blatantly to include him in the conversation, he felt embarrassed and pathetic. It wasn't something he ever liked to feel and it angered him more than anything.

Severus checked the time as he entered the castle and noted that it was nearly curfew. Making his way at a more languid pace, he crossed the entrance hall and started to descend down to the Dungeons. Slowly, he made his way towards Slytherin and thought about his day. It had certainly turned out to be a busy Saturday, probably the busiest he'd had for quite sometime. For a moment, his mind wandered to the stack of fifth year essays that he hadn't quite finished and he thought that he'd better return to doing that after he checked up on Slytherin. He groaned to think that he still had a stack of first, fourth and sixth year essays to get through.

Making his way through the winding, dark halls of the dungeons, Severus soon found himself walking into Slytherin. He could hear pretty loud music as soon as he stepped into the room, a rock kind of sound, though the singers sounded much more annoying. Severus gritted his teeth as he heard the music and the nonsensical lyrics. It was worse than what he'd heard from Samara. He didn't understand teenagers. He'd never particularly understood them when he was one himself so he much less understood them now.

As he walked in, no one seemed to notice him too much. He supposed that it was because the room was rather dimly lit and in the darkness of the room and the lake, the room had a greenish-black ambiance about it that seemed to pulsate with the music. Severus raked his eyes around the dimly lit room full of teenagers, most of which were wearing dark robes and cloaks as the dungeons were always cold, especially in winter. He noted that there were some dancing to the music, while the majority were talking, eating and drinking, Severus knew not what but knew he was better off not knowing. His eyes roved around the room once more, knowing exactly what he was looking for, but unable to spot her.

Irritation started to rise in him that he had yet to find Samara and so he flicked his wand towards the wizarding radio from which the music was blaring and giving him a head ache. The moment that the music was off, he heard a few rumbles but they all shut-up when they at last noted that he was in the room. "I suggest," he said in and acidic whisper, that he was sure that everyone would hear, despite how low he was speaking. "That you all go to bed," he said, hoping that once the room was clear that he would spot Samara.

He had, for some reason, a strong desire to see her and as the room started to clear, he was unhappy that he still did not see her. Severus narrowed his eyes and glared and he suddenly stepped forward and reached for Timothy Elias. Grabbing him by the arm, he yanked the boy to him and stared down at the scared seventeen year old's face. "Where is Samara?" he asked coldly.

"She left a while ago, she said she was very tired and was going to go to sleep, sir," Timothy responded. Severus let go of the boy and nodded curtly. "Good night sir," Timothy said, before turning around and scurrying to his dorm. Severus gritted his teeth as he waited for the common room to empty before he exited. He supposed he'd have to wait until tomorrow before he was able to see her. He grumbled to think he would have to be grading essays for the rest of his evening when he wanted nothing more than to see Samara.

**TBC…**

**A/n:** OMG, I'm so sorry for taking so long, but I think that my computer crashed. Right now I'm updating from my bf's. Updating, unfortunately might take longer than usual from now on, but I will continue to write this story so please continue to read and review. Hope you like the chapter. Please Review!


	61. About Saturday Night

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 61: **____**About**__** Saturday Night**_

The following morning Severus made his way down the hallway thinking about Samara and wondering if he would be able to see her today. He wondered, as he made his ways through the mainly empty hallways where she was. He thought, as it was so early in the morning that she was probably still asleep like most of the inhabitants of Hogwarts. He very much doubted that anyone else would be able to wake up at five in the morning on a Sunday. The only reason that he was up was because he'd been unable to sleep. He didn't particular have any reason for the particular bout of insomnia, but there it was. At least he'd been able to get some work out of it.

Being up to date as he now was on his grading, he didn't have anything to do with his Sunday. It was something he thought of as disadvantageous, considering now he had nothing better to do than to will his day away, probably thinking about Samara, who undoubtedly would have a busy day, just like every day of her year thus far. She seemed even busier now than she had been the previous year during that unspeakable time when she was pregnant. He found it strange that any student could possibly be busier than their Professor, especially a Professor who had extra responsibilities, such as being the Head of Slytherin.

Not that he could possibly hold it against her. It wasn't like she'd asked to become Head Girl. In fact, he remembered that she didn't want to take the position and only took it to keep two Gryffindors from being Head Boy and Girl. Though he knew she didn't have anything against Gryffindors, the same could not be said about Gryffindors towards Slytherins, and this way things were only fair. While the Head Boy and Girl were supposed to be fair and treat all the students of all the houses equally, that wasn't always the case, no matter how responsible or fair the student was.

As for the extra responsibilities of the Dueling Club that were thrust on her, well he hardly thought that that was fair to her. She hadn't wanted there to be a club to begin with. Severus suddenly stopped his walking when he remembered how angry she had been with him about that and finally understood why she'd been so angry, apart from the fact that she hadn't slept all that well. Severus frowned a she resumed his walking. This was definitely not how he wanted to spend his Sunday. He needed to do something before he was driven completely insane by his own thoughts.

---

"How were the drinks at the Three Broomsticks?" Severus raised a brow as he looked over at Samara, wondering how it was that she knew it was him walking into her Common Room without looking up. Severus raised a brow as he looked at the Head Girl. A plain set of smoky grey robes, the ones that he'd seen her in earlier during lunch where strewn over the armchair, while she sat Indian style on her couch. She was currently hunching over the coffee table, examining an essay while biting on the end of a sugar quill. Her long black hair was held in a sloppy bun that made her look quite sexy. He also noted with some interest that she was wearing pajamas and deducted that she had been too lazy to change and therefore had just thrown on a set of robes over her pajamas in the morning.

"It was one drink, and we were joined by Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick and Professor Dumbledore," Severus replied coolly as he sat down on the couch. His day thus far had been quite boring, nothing but wandering through the halls and deducting points from students at random. He'd even gone down to the Hospital Wing to see if Madam Pomfrey needed any potions to be restocked. After procuring a list and working on the potions he decided to pay Samara a surprise visit. Well it wasn't much of a surprise for she'd known it was him.

Turning his attention to the teenager that was working rather diligently on a rather lengthy essay, he studied her carefully. Hanging from her neck, was the necklace that he'd given her, from which hung the music box. Severus smiled to see that Samara, probably quite unconsciously, held the pendant in the palm of her left hand, while her right hand scribbled quickly across the page. Turning his gaze from this endearing sight, he turned to look at Samara's face. She looked mildly amused as she smiled and continued to write her essay. Severus was always amazed by the ability of women to multi-task.

"I see. Did is dampen Professor Cross' spirits?" Samara asked, clearly sounding amused as she continued to write. Severus wondered for a moment what she was working on. He could see that she had three fourths of the parchment full or writing and could also see that beneath the page that she was writing there was another that was full with her script. It seemed like quite the lengthy essay and he hadn't assigned any essay for that weekend.

"That reminds me, where did you disappear to last night?" he asked. At last, Samara looked up from what she was doing and turned to look at him with an inquisitive brow arched over her magnificent eyes, which seemed slightly greener then they had been the previous day. Severus furrowed his brow at this for a moment, but waved it off as he had more pertinent questions to be answered. "You weren't in the common room when I got back, and I got back early," he clarified coolly. Samara seemed to catch on to what he meant and nodded at this. Turning away, she turned her gaze back to essay and continued to write.

"I was just tired and not much in the mood to celebrate. I headed out to the greenhouses and got a Hyacinth to take to the Hospital wing," she replied, frowning slightly. Severus felt his stomach tighten as he watched her continue to write. He wondered if she was trying to seem unaffected. It was almost around this time the previous year that Samara had found out that she was pregnant. "Afterwards I just felt very tired and went to sleep. That's why I'm trying to catch up on my work," she said as she continued to write.

Thinking that he should change the subject so that Samara wouldn't become withdrawn, he decided to ask her about her eyes. "Your eyes seem much greener than ever before," Severus suddenly said. Samara merely nodded at this absent-mindedly, her concentration now being fully turned to her essay. Feeling somewhat exasperated at feeling ignored, Severus sighed. "Why is that?" he asked as he watched her.

"There isn't a real reason for it. Some winters my eyes become greener, some summers they become browner. It doesn't happen every year," Samara said with a shrug of her shoulders, not for a second stopping the progress of her quill. Before continuing she pulled out another blank sheet of parchment to continue writing, clearly having filled up the previous one. "My father's eyes were like that. The same thing also happens with Professor Sinistra's eyes, but it's a little harder to tell with hers. Over the Summer, they look almost grey rather than their usual black. I didn't notice until I spent part of this summer with her."

Severus raised a brow at this and wondered how he had never noted that before. He guessed it was because he didn't pay attention to his colleagues eyes and he probably never really paid attention to Samara's eyes until this year. He supposed that it wasn't unheard of for people's eyes to lighten or darken sometimes with the seasons, just as he'd once known a girl whose blonde hair became darker with the coming of winter when he was at Hogwarts. It wasn't anything to impressive, however, he'd never noted it before in Samara and he found it quite intriguing. At least about her, he really couldn't care less about anyone else.

Samara smiled and put down her quill and sat back on the couch, turning to face him with a grand smile. "Finally done," she said as she scooted closer to him. Severus slipped his arm around Samara's waist and held her close to him as she rested her head on his shoulder. Holding her in his arms, they both lapsed into a peaceful silence and Severus found himself thinking about how this seemed to be all that they really did and it made him wonder if Samara ever wanted more. Didn't she want to be in a normal relationship, where she could go out on dates or at least be with the person that she loved outside of closed doors? Did she ever feel like she was caged? Didn't she want to do something exciting with the person that she was in a relationship with, instead of just sitting down on a couch all the time and talking?

His stomach tightened at the thought of how he was just another shackle for her, just like the other responsibilities in her life that impeded her from doing what she really wanted to do. While Samara was no free spirit and did rather seem the home-body type, he didn't think that she liked to be that all the time. He was sure that she liked to get out once in a while, or have a normal relationship like other teenagers her age. However, considering the fact that she'd previously dated Gryffindors and kept that a secret, he had to assume that she was somewhat used to it. He wondered if she ever tired of it or just wanted a normal relationship.

Unconsciously, Severus found that he'd tightened his grasp around Samara. As if his thoughts would slip out his head and into Samara's, as he was resting his head atop hers and she would recoil from him. As if she would suddenly become aware of how much of a prisoner she was and realize that she deserved to be in a relationship where she wasn't caged by four-walls with a possessive man that further hindered her freedom. However, as he looked down at Samara, he could see that her eyes were closed and he thought that she had fallen asleep. He stared at her peaceful face and at the crooked smile that was plastered over her face, convincing him that Samara didn't want to be any place else then where she was currently at. Taking in a deep breath, Severus felt his heart swell up. Slowly, he placed a kiss atop her head in gratification for the way that she always reassured him, even when she didn't even know that she was doing it.

**TBC…**

**A/n: **I know, short chapter, but hope you all liked it. I'm working on 62, which is longer. Currently I have my bfs laptop and thats why I was able to update. If I still have it and finish 62, I might update later. Anyway, Please review!


	62. Carnival Chaos

**Warning: **There is some bad language in this chapter. My apologies, but it had to be done.

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 62:**__** Carnival Chaos**_

The first two weeks of November passed by quite quickly. Before Severus knew it, Saturday November fifteenth was upon them and another trip to Hogsmead, to which most of the staff and students seemed particularly eager to attend as apparently some sort of carnival was strolling in through Hogsmead. Severus wasn't particularly up for it as were the rest of his colleagues and was planning to stay in the castle. It wasn't something Samara was too pleased about as she wanted him to get out of the castle for some fresh air, she thought that he spent far too much time in the moldy air of the Dungeons.

However, as appealing as it sounded to breath in cold fresh-air, Severus could just imagine how packed Hogsmead was going to be. Not only with students and those Hogwarts Professors that were not planning to head down to the village, but by the villagers and out-of-towners as well. Severus had always particularly hated crowded venues, mainly because he didn't like to have his personal space violated and that was something that tended to happen quite often in crowded areas. He didn't particularly care for sifting through crowds to catch some spectacle or other, or having to bump into unpleasant people. NO, he'd much rather stay in a nearly abandoned castle, terrorizing the first and second years.

Of course, Samara, being the thoughtful and considerate person that he so often knew her to be, offered to stay with him, but Severus was quite adamant that she should not. The growing feeling that he was another one of her shackles made him seek out Samara less often than he thought was necessary. It wasn't that he thought that he was suffocating her, but he thought that she should get as much fresh air as was possible, especially in her last year at Hogwarts. Besides, he didn't think that she would really want to miss the carnival and that she should spend the day with her three friends, as much as he loathed allowing her out of his sight. He couldn't be completely selfish all the time, now could he?

His colleagues, namely Professor Cross, Professor Flitwick and Professor Sinistra, all tried to convince him to join them to the village; however, he wasn't particularly interested. However, as lunch neared and he found himself pacing through the nearly empty halls, he found that he was getting quite curious and wanted to make sure that Samara was all right. Also, he was bored out of his mind, having finished all his grading the previous night because he hadn't had anything else to do then either.

With quick strides he made his way down to Hogsmead and upon entering the village he found himself grimacing to see how packed the streets were. Outside many of the shops, booths had been set up. Apparently, the carnival, was a band of Gypsies that were travelling through. As he made his way through the crowded streets, trying was best he could to avoid the villager children that were running amuck and avoiding bumping into any of his students and colleagues, he made his way up the street, staring at the booths.

He found several booths that sold jewelry, scarves, tarot cards, while others had magical games. There was a spell target booth where the object of the game was to test how well your aim of spells where with your wand by trying to shoot a moving target. Apparently if you landed a hit, at the very least, three targets, you won three galleons. Severus made his way by, thinking that the Galleons had to be Leprechaun gold, and he sneered at the third year Gryffindor who was trying to play as he passed.

Near the end of the street, he could see that a paddock was set where there were minor and harmless magical creatures that children were allowed to enter and pet. Not too far away from that, Severus swore he could see a fire-breather, while across the way he could see a man making large bubbles with his wand and placing children inside to have them float in the air as a ride. There were some fortune teller booths, curvaceous women in fiery skirts belly-dancing, contortionist and amidst all of it, the Hogwarts students milling around, running with excitement and ignoring for once many of the stores and the cold.

Actually, as he came to a stop at a booth with curious artifacts, he realized that it actually felt quite warm. Like the Gypsies had brought with them a warm southern breeze to make the days that they were in Hogsmead positively pulsate with the vibrancy of all the silk of fiery reds, yellows and orange scarves that adorned almost every single booth and Gypsy alike. Never before had Severus seen Hogsmead so alive, and that was saying something. However, it wasn't like he approved of it. Actually, he was getting quite vexed already as three students had already bumped into him and left running away from him before he could take off points from their houses while muttering barely audible apologies. However, he tried to clear his mind of this, after al it had been his decision to go down there in the first place, despite his better judgment. Though he supposed that it was only to be expected, Severus had always thought that his curiosity was one of his biggest faults and more often than not it had gotten him into trouble.

Slowly slithering through the crowded streets of Hogsmead, Severus did his absolute best in avoiding having his personal space invaded as he looked around. Hogsmead looked much transformed, due to the booths that now covered most of the store fronts. While there was still a space between the stores and the booths where people could pass behind the booths to go into the stores, all you could really see where the large and brightly colored booths. Even the smell that had drifted into Hogsemad had changed. Usually Severus had found that the smell was sweet and yet piny, however as he made his way through the street, it had a strong scent of incense, that was not overwhelming due to the open-air. Unlike Trelawney's tower, this did not make one feel sick and like emptying their stomachs. It was actually bearable and added to the mugginess of the streets.

Severus slowed down when he found himself at the back of students that were gathered around a contortionist, and being as tall as he was, he was able to see over all their heads. The contortionist was clothed in a bright golden leotard, bending his body in ways that Severus thought were most unnatural. Severus bent his head slightly as he watched the way that the man was bending over backwards and raised a brow as a shiver ran through his body. "I can do that," Severus felt all his hairs stand on end at the sound of the familiar voice and turned around to look at Samara, however she looked much changed. Her hair was in curls that while bushy, looked quite appealing. Her hazel eyes had become greener, and were contrasting nicely against her mable-like skin and were further accentuated due to the eyeliner. She wore a bandana over her head and large golden hoops in her ears. She was no longer sporting the white robes that she had on earlier but an off the shoulder, white top that exposed her flat midriff. She wore a bright red skirt that hung on her sharp hips and fell all the way down to her feet, with a large slit on the right side of her leg that ran up all the way to around mid-thigh.

All words escaped him as he stared down at her in the Gypsy garb and looking quite sensuous. His mind had gone horribly blank, his mouth dry and he found that every muscle had turned taut. He had to clench his mouth shut tight to keep his jaw from falling down to the floor and for a moment, he had to close his eyes to make sure that they eyeballs did not fall out of the sockets. His brain did not process what she had said, and everything that was going on around them, all the noise and excitement, completely faded from his mind. All he was aware of was Samara and how tempting she looked, costumed in Gypsy glory.

"What are you wearing?" Severus at last managed to ask when he was able to manage a coherent thought. Slowly, he opened his eyes and looked at her. Her currently emerald eyes were staring up at him in amusement as she smiled sheepishly at him. She turned slightly and pointed towards a booth. To take his mind off her thin figure, Severus turned his gaze towards the booth that she was pointing to with her bony index finger. He merely nodded as he understood what was happening at the booth. The girls who were gathered were all looking through books and picking out designs that they wanted their robes to be transfigured into by the matronly Gypsy witch that was doing it.

"It was a dare from Nate, Timothy paid for it," Samara said with a shrug as she turned to look back at him. "You haven't seen them, by any chance, have you? I seem to have lost them in the crowds and I can't see over a quarter of the people here," Samara said as she smiled up at him. Very reluctantly Severus turned his gaze away from the booth and back to Samara. He hoped that he didn't come across Samara when they were alone, ever looking like this. He was not sure that he had enough self-control to keep from pouncing on her. She simply looked far too stunning for words and the fire that she lit inside him was stronger than any other he had ever felt.

"No I have not seen them, but remind me to give each of them twenty points," Severus said as he looked around. He found himself looking over at the contortionist and grimaced to see the way that the man was bent. Somehow he had managed to roll himself into a ball, backwards. "You can do that?" Severus asked skeptically, still grimacing as he nodded over towards the man. Samara turned around and stood on her tip-toes to see over the vast crowd and see what he was pointing out. She shook her head at this before turning to him and responding.

"Not _that_! I'm a gymnast, not a contortionist. I meant what he was doing earlier, before he rolled himself into a ball," she said as she looked up at him. Severus turned his attention back to Samara and nodded at this. He still found that impressive. Previously the contortionist, had been apparently been laying on his chest, while his spine was bent backwards and his feet firmly planted on each side of his head. Severus didn't think that he would be able to do that, no matter how many charms, spells and potions he would use to make his bones like jelly or add more flexibility to his muscles, however, he was quite intrigued to see what Samara could do so. Other than flips, he didn't know how flexible her body was. He supposed that now, he at least he had some idea of why she was nicknamed Gumby. "Oh, you just have to see the fire-breather," Samara said excitedly as she took him by the arm and hauled him nearby to where the fire-breather was performing.

Severus sighed in mild exasperation; her impulsiveness was bound to rear its head sometime. Lately, she had apparently been too busy, or perhaps too tired to act on her impulses. However, today seemed the perfect opportunity for the Head Girl to let lose a little, something was apparent by the revealing clothing that she was now wearing. Usually Severus was used to seeing her in more conservative garb. Well, for the most part wizarding robes were conservative; however, even her muggle clothing wasn't too revealing. Not that he wanted it to be. Severus much rather preferred that she was not an exhibitionist as it meant that she would be all for him and that no one else had a right to see what was his. However, he didn't mind at the moment how Samara looked. Except of course when he caught some lecherous old townie staring at her or when a boy they passed turned to look at her.

Soon enough, they made their way to the back of the crowd that was watching the fire-breathers. There were three of them, all masked and wearing matching silk leotards and pointed hats. One was in silks of bright pink, while another in dark purple, while the largest and broadest man was in black. From the tips of their wands, large, dragon-like flames were sprouting and they were manipulating them, making them dance in the air above them while they whispered and cajoled the flames in tongues that Severus did not understand and he was sure that no one else understood. However, as fascinating as this all really was, he found it very hard to pay attention to anything else other than how splendid Samara looked. It was impossible to keep his eyes from wandering to her as she stood beside him and watched in rapt attention to the fire-breathers and clapped delightedly with all her classmates. The innocence on her face, made her look more beautiful and pacified his desires. Watching her face, steadily drew down his defenses and he soon found himself smiling slightly.

"Severus," of course, that did not last long. His smile slipping away and returning to its usual mask of coldness, Severus and Samara both slowly turned their gaze away from the attraction and turned to look at Professor Cross as she walked over. "Samara?" she asked as she knitted her brows together and looked at the girl that was standing next to Severus. Samara nodded in response and bid Professor Cross politely a good afternoon. "Samara what are you wearing? That is highly inappropriate and you are supposed to be setting an example to all the other students," Professor Cross said in a slightly reprimanding tone. Severus raised a brow at this as Samara grimaced and stepped forward. Severus could see that fire become a light in her eyes, and for the first time in a couple of months, it did not seem to be directed to him.

"Excuse me Professor Cross, but I don't think that there is anything inappropriate in what I am wearing. This is the type of clothing gypsies wear and it's a carnival, we aren't disrespecting anybody in wearing this," Samara said, forcing her voice into a calm that she did not feel as her eyes narrowed on the blue eyes of her Professor. Severus raised a brow at this, wondering what this was about. He supposed that Cross did have a point, and he wondered, if Samara were not the one that was wearing the Gypsy outfit and if it was just any other student, if he would be reprimanding the student just as Cross was doing to Samara at the moment. He supposed that he would probably do something worse to the girls wearing it. However, at the current moment, he had no opinion on the situation and he was not about to give it. Although, he supposed if Cross asked for his support he would have to give it to her, not matter how grudgingly he would have to do so. After all, Samara and he had agreed at the beginning that the most important thing was their maintaining their relationship a secret.

"But you are supposed to be representing Hogwarts and I hardly consider what you are wearing to be appropriate, especially for the Head Girl," Professor Cross said as she looked at her. Severus looked over at Samara and could see that she had already clenched her fists at her side and that she was breathing a little heavily with the efforts of trying to keep her anger in check. However, after months of having to pretty much be at Cross' every beck and call, Severus could see that Samara was about to blow. He wanted to come between this somehow, but found that there was nothing much that he could do without arising any suspicion.

Fortunately, and unfortunately at the same time, someone else came along to bring about a distraction. "You're one to give a lecture to someone about what is appropriate or not," came a scathing voice that Severus recognized to belong to none other but Aurora Sinistra. Severus turned and watched as the astronomy professor approached, a malicious gleam in her eyes as she glared over at Cross and came to stand between Samara and Severus, directly in front of Cross, who was blushing slightly. Her blue eyes were unmoving, completely fixated on Aurora.

"Excuse me, but this matter does not concern you," Pandora said sharply as she glared at Aurora. Severus and Samara both raised their brows to see the open animosity of Pandora now, and they both attributed it to the fact that she had just been embarrassed when she was trying to discipline one of her students. Before this day, they hadn't seen Pandora be hostile towards Aurora as she was to her, however at the moment, it seemed that her anger had gotten the best of her. There were no thoughts left to spare on anything else. She was wholly concerned about the fact that she was being disrespected once more in front of a student, that she was not particularly fond of at the moment, and a well esteemed co-worker.

"There are plenty matters that don't concern you and you always managed to stick your nose in it. Besides, this matter concerns one of my students as well, and Samara is an exemplary student at that. I do not think there is anything very much wrong with what she is wearing," Aurora said in feigned calmness as she looked over at the woman with strawberry blonde curls, which today were held in a fancy twist beneath a black witches cap. Straightening up and drawing herself to her full height Pandora glared over at the astronomy professor.

Severus looked over at Samara and could see that the anger that she had felt had abated slightly and that she was more concerned with the fact that Cross and Aurora were probably about to cause a scene right about now. Turning his gaze away from the lovely sight of Samara, he looked over at Aurora, who looked quite calm, though she bore a smug smile on her face. Severus than rolled his eyes over to Pandora who was strangely enough becoming more and more calm by the second. She then smiled as she looked over at Aurora and her gaze softened.

"Well I can't argue with that, though we are all entitled to our opinions," she said calmly as she looked at Sinistra's dark eyes. "Of course," she said, ignoring the look that Aurora was giving her and tossing a glance over to Samara. "It is most advisable that you change. Unless of course that is the type of attention that you prefer to receive," Pandora said as she nodded over to somewhere behind Samara, causing everyone to turn and look at the men that were staring over at them. Judging by the expression on the men's faces, there was only one thing that they were really staring at. "I was merely advising you."

Samara turned her gaze back towards the woman that was looking at her and narrowed her eyes at her. Once more, Severus noted the way that she had clenched her fists at her side and the way that they were shaking, probably itching to reach toward her wand. "The way that they are looking at me is not my problem. I'm not going to be embarrassed just because _they_ are perverts," Samara said defiantly as she looked at Cross, not liking the way that she was trying to make her feel like the guilty one. She didn't really think that she had done anything wrong and she was damned if she was going to let anyone at all make her feel guilty. "I'm not doing anything wrong."

"Yes, but as your Professors, we are supposed to be concerned for your well being while you are a student at Hogwarts, something that Professor Sinistra seems to have forgotten. If the men were to do something to you…" Professor Cross was saying calmly and in a voice of concern. Her blue eyes were glinting softly and her features had softened as well. Severus was momentarily reminded of Professor Sprout when she became all mother-hen when it concerned one of the students in her House. However, before she could finish what she was saying, Samara raised a hand to silence her as she stared over at her.

"Thank you for your concern Professor Cross, but I am more than capable of taking care of myself. Excuse me," she said as she turned and walked away, bidding Aurora and Severus a warmer farewell as she pushed past Cross and got lost in a crowd, walking in the opposite direction. Severus furrowed his brows in concern as he watched her stride away quickly, well aware that she was furious and was probably walking away to keep from exploding at Cross and perhaps to avoid the rest of the encounter between Aurora and Cross. Severus thought that to be most wise as he now watched the way the two women were looking at each other. Loathing was apparent in both their gazes and he could see that they were both crossing their arms over their chests, probably to keep from reaching into their robes for their wands and hexing each other.

"I thought that you had more decency in you than to try and embarrass me in front of one of my own students," Pandora said as she glared over at Professor Sinistra. Sinistra merely sneered over at her. Severus grit his teeth to be caught witnessing this and with the responsibility of keeping anything from happening. He was sure that Aurora would hate him forever if he took Pandora's side and that was not something he wanted. While he didn't care what people thought about him, he didn't want Aurora to hate him, after all, they'd been colleagues for several years now and he enjoyed their playful banter of insults. Besides, he could already see what her hatred towards someone was like, and he didn't want his life to be further inconvenienced by being hated by someone who was vengeful, especially if it was a woman he had to work with. Women were hellish as it was to deal with, they were more so if they hated you.

"You don't need me to embarrass you, you do that on your own," Aurora said with her sneer in place as she looked over at Cross who turned a blossom shade of pink. Thinking that this indeed was going far enough, Severus cleared his throat.

"As fascinating as it is to watch you go at it, it's getting quite old. I suggest that you both join the world of adults soon," Severus said acidly, like he was talking to one of his students, before striding away, well aware that he left both woman silent and looking after him as he made his way through the crowds. As he waved through the crowds of people, narrowly avoiding a rather robust woman who was backing up, he wondered where Samara had gone off to. It didn't take him too long to realize where she was when she spotted her, apparently having run into the one person Severus would have preferred her not to run into. Gritting his teeth, he stealthily made his way closer to where Samara and Bill Weasley were standing.

Both teenagers were standing before each other somewhat awkwardly, looking around while they stood facing each other. They avoided looking at one another, while they both blushed and spoke to each other. Severus raised a brow at this, wondering why Samara was blushing, but guessed that she felt shy about how much she was revealing of herself as she was hugging herself around the waist. He guessed that she was embarrassed about it slightly and judging by the fact that Bill was looking around and blushing, he was slightly uncomfortable himself and trying to make her feel better about herself by not staring. Once more, Severus gritted his teeth, did he have to be a good boy?

Walking closer so that he was standing closer to where they were, while still apart from them so that they could not see him, he was able to listen into their conversation, that was flowing very slowly. Pretending to be interested in watching the belly-dancing girls and standing with his back to Samara and Bill, he was able to back up a little farther so that he could better hear what they were saying, which wasn't much, to his annoyance. Why stand in front of each other, avoiding each other's gazes when they felt completely awkward if they had nothing to say to each other? What was wrong with teenagers? Did they have any idea that they didn't have to and could just end the conversation by saying a goodbye and walking away? What compelled them to stand before each other stupidly when it was obvious that they didn't want to be talking to each other?

"So… um… you're planning on growing out your hair," he heard Samara at last say very hesitantly. His ears tuned into their conversation, everything else becoming a murmur in the background. Lately, Bills hair, which was usually cut short, was getting longer. He looked shaggier and his straight hair hung, somewhat layered to about his chin. "How long are you planning on growing it?" she asked. Severus shook his head as he watched the four women that were dancing. All of them had their stomachs exposed and Severus found it strange that they could roll their stomachs like that. He guessed that they age ranges had to be from like sixteen to twenty-five. However, he was unsure.

"Yeah, Eric and I are growing out our hair. We're trying to see whose hair can grow fastest by the end of the year without the use of spells and potions," Bill replied. Severus raised a brow at this as he thought about Eric Williamson, the seventh year that was apparently _in love_ with Samara. He had noticed that the boys hair had also grown slightly longer. He had his hair the same length as Bill's before they were growing it out. Recently, however, he was also getting shaggier, her straight brown hair slowly growing so that it was now down to his chin and had a tendency to get into his eyes. Severus wondered why the boys were doing this, thinking that it was quite idiotic and wondering how they were going to determine whose hair was longer. As far as he could tell, their hair was the exact same length.

"So… what's your mom going to say about that earring? Won't she be angry that you pierced your ear?" she asked as she looked at him. Severus raised a brow at this, he hadn't seen that. His eyes narrowed on a tall girl with long black hair that was styled like Samara, wearing something that actually reminded him of Samara as she twirled a scarf. However, Severus really didn't see her as his eyes were really not capturing what they were looking at, despite the fact that his eyes had narrowed in on her. His thoughts were all wrapped around the conversation at hi back, several feet away from where he stood.

"It gets tiring to be the perfect son. Besides, don't you think that it looks good?" Severus gritted his teeth. Was that a flirting tone that he distinctly heard him using?

"I see, so you're quietly rebelling, that's a first. You're always so perfect," Samara said. Severus felt his stomach churn nastily, though the tone she used was mocking and slightly annoyed. Severus wondered if Samara thought that Bill was perfect, if that annoyed her. "Don't look at me like that, you know you're perfect. Anyway, the earring looks nice. Is it a real shark tooth?" he heard her say. He was unsure of Bill's response, he guessed that he either shook his head or nodded in response, for Samara was speaking again. "Oh, well that's good. So I'm not going to bother asking yous how your classes are going, I'm sure that they are perfect."

"Except Potions," he heard Bill complain, interrupting Samara mid-sentence. Once more, Severus raised a brow at this. "Snape hates me. Most of the time he doesn't allow me to finish my potions and when I am able to hand them in, he gives them low scores. He takes points from me at the smallest infraction and most of my essays barely get A's. It's on a very rare occasion when he gives me something higher," Bill said. Severus glared and thought about the boy. He thought that he was being more than fair with him.

"All things considered I think that _Professor_ Snape is treating you better than he treats most people in your house, so I don't think that you should be complaining," Samara said a little gently, though he could hear the smile on her face.

"I suppose you're right. I've heard poor Eric complaining about him and he gets it much worse. Apparently in the last month Snape has assigned him over two weeks of detention with Filch," Bill said. Severus inwardly smiled at this in amusement. Perhaps that was a bit unfair, however, you couldn't blame him. After all, the boy had a knack for getting himself into trouble, it wasn't his fault that him caught him and punished him severely to make an example out of him. Although, he wouldn't have caught him if he hadn't been watching like a hawk for the slightest of slip-up.

"Well… Eric does have a knack for getting himself into trouble," Samara said. "Well Bill, I should be going. I need to go find my friends. I'll see you tomorrow all right," Samara said, indicating that she thought it was time to walk away. Severus wondered why she had so abruptly needed to get away and wondered if perhaps she had spotted him. However, as he heard Bill call out her name, he guessed that Bill was not yet done speaking to her. "Yes?" Samara asked gently, indicating that she was waiting for him to speak so that she could move away. For a moment, Severus wondered if Bill had lowered his voice, because he could hear nothing but the excited voices all around him.

"Umm… well… I was just wondering if," But whatever it was that he was going to say to her didn't come out. His stammering dragged whatever it was that he was saying on, and he was interrupted before he was able to finish. Severus furrowed his brows as he heard he distinct voice of Timothy Elias and strangely enough he sounded angry.

"Samara, we've been looking for you everywhere. Why are you talking to this Gryffindor slime?" Timothy asked. Severus was very surprised about this and he was urged to turn around to see what was happening. Could this be the same Timothy Elias that always stood silently in his class, keeping mostly to himself and looking timid? The same boy that never looked him in the eyes? The same thin, meek boy that he had never felt threatened by?

"Tim, you can't talk to him like that, he's a prefect," Samara said, her voice gentle and trying to pacify the boy. Severus could hear the tiniest timber of fear in the mainly confused tone of voice that she was using. Slowly, Severus turned his head slightly to look behind him. Over the students' heads that stood between him and where Samara and Bill had been standing, he could see that now they were standing side-by-side and facing the small group of three Slytherins that had approached them. At the forefront stood Timothy, looking angry like Severus had never seen him look before. There was almost something impressive about him like this. He didn't look like such a mouse.

"Are you defending him?" Severus heard the boy ask, sounding offended, his voice cracking slightly. Samara didn't say anything in response and he heard Timothy growl. "Ugh! I'm so sick of this. Why do you notice every other boy in the world but not me?' he asked angrily and loudly. Severus turned around and could see the way that Samara flinched. He turned to look at Timothy, whose eyes looked slightly bloodshot, like he'd been heavily drinking or heavily crying. Severus guessed it was the first as he noted the way that he was flushed and slightly swaying. "He's a blood-traitor, poor Gryffindor and he's two years younger than we are! I am twice the man that he is!"

"Tim… you need to calm down. You've had a little too much to drink again, come on… we'll take you back up to the castle and get you a cleansing potion," Samara said as she reached out to grab him by the arm, but he wrenched hi arm away from her and shoved her slightly. Samara stumbled back slightly and nearly tripped on the end of her skirt, however, Bill caught her before she fell. Severus looked over at Ethan and Nate, both who were standing back merely watching and wondered why it was that neither one of them was doing anything.

"Hey, calm down," Bill said as he frowned and held onto Samara, who was quite a bit shorter than he was. Severus watched as Timothy drew his wand and pointed it menacingly at Bill and he wondered for a moment if he'd fallen into some kind of morbid reality where Timothy actually had guts and was an intimidating psychopath, but he brushed away the silly thought. Clearly drinking made the boy think he was on top of the world and emboldened him a little too much.

"You stay the bloody hell out of this. This is between me and her! You've been bloody teasing me for seven fucking years, you damn cock tease," Timothy said loudly. Samara was taken aback by this and a somewhat hurt look crossed her face. Severus glared at the boy that was saying these things to her and clenched his fists as his side, wanting to pull out his wand and putting the kid through the Cruciatus curse for saying those awful things. However, his logic suddenly jumped in and was forcing him to stay put and do nothing. To let things simply unfold and see if there was something he could do about the current situation without looking suspicious. But he was unsure that he could intercede and keep his anger in check to keep him from hurting the inebriated Timothy.

"Hey Tim, this is our Gumby that you're talking to. Calm down. Come on, we'll all go up to the castle and get you something," Nate said nervously as he reached out to Timothy cautiously. Severus wondered if they had all seen him drunk before and wondered if that was the reason that they were so scared of him. Perhaps he'd severely underestimated the boy. After all, sometimes the quiet ones where the most dangerous ones.

"Yeah, come on Tim, you'll feel better after the potion," Ethan said as he reached out for him at the same time as Nate. Timothy merely turned to them and apparently said two curses that were non-verbal, because the next thing Severus knew the two boys were on their backs.

"Back off, I've been waiting for years for this moment," Timothy said as he turned back to Samara, his wand pointed to her. Feeling that this was already getting too far and knowing that he needed to do something, Severus slowly started walking over to the group. He wondered for a moment, how the hell they managed to get liquor. Even if he was of age, they weren't allowed to drink at any of the pubs while they were Hogwarts students. Severus wondered as he slowly and cautiously approached, trying to plan out his next step, if perhaps they had been able to procure it from one of the Gypsies and felt that he should have foreseen something like this happening. With all the chaos and excitement of the Carnival, something bad was bound to happen. Especially with obsessed teenagers were added into the equation.

"Tim, we're friends right, just put the wand down," Samara said as she stepped away from Bill and slowly approached him cautiously, like she was approaching a loony person, which she clearly was. Timothy shook his head violently as he flicked his wand slightly, causing Samara to stop her progress and freeze. Severus watched Samara as he approached slowly, seeing that her eyes did not hold fear but that behind them the wheels of her mind were working furiously, trying to figure out what she was supposed to do. Severus looked around and wondered why it was that everyone was so distracted by what was going on around them that they couldn't notice that two boys had just been attacked and that there was something seriously wrong in the midst. Casting a brief glance at Nate and Ethan, who were trying to get off the floor, but where being held down by whatever spell Timothy had used, Severus looked over at Bill, who was twitching to do something. However, when dealing with nuts it was usually best to proceed with caution and he was glad that the brash, Gryffindor realized this and was keeping still.

"No Samara, I'm tired of doing everything that you want me to do, buying you everything you could possibly want and for once, you are going to do something that I want you to do," Timothy said, his voice shaking with resolve as his eyes glinted dangerously. Pulling out his wand, Severus waved it towards Timothy, whose wand flew out of his hand and into Severus outstretched hand as he strode over, waving his wand at the two boys on the floor so that they could at last get up. Every eye turned to look at him as he walked over and he could see the way that Samara's eyes were glinting at him as a look of relief came over her face.

"I don't care who started this, I want you all back at the castle, NOW," Severus said coldly as he strode up. He silenced any arguments with a mere death-glare as all of the teenagers moved past him and headed towards the castle. Severus followed closely behind them, hearing them all as they quickly crossed the grounds and made their way towards the castle, all the while watching Timothy very closely to ensure he didn't do anything to anyone. It was apparent that no matter how drunk he was he had enough sense not to do anything in front of him. "Go to your House and you go straight to your rooms," Severus said as he glared down at Bill, and motioned for Samara to go. They both merely nodded in response as he turned and herded his students down the stairs.

Once they were down in the dungeons he snatched Timothy by the arm and watched the others progress towards Slytherin before dragging the boy into his office and slamming the door shut behind them. As he walked away and shoved the boy into the chair and walked over to one of the many jars, he felt that he wanted nothing more than to decapitate the boy. However, as he clenched a vial from a cabinet, he realized he couldn't do much without seeming suspicious and had to conform himself with merely giving him a firm talking to.

Turning around, he marched over to the boy. "Open your mouth," he said gruffly. Timothy looked fearfully up at his Head of House, before nodding and tilting his head up and opening his mouth. Severus opened the vial and poured a little bit of potion down the boy's throat, causing him to sputter. Severus glared at him as he closed the vial and hoped that he would choke on it. "If you ever get drunk again and embarrass your house like that I will expel you, do you understand," Severus said through gritted teeth as he glared down into the boy's eyes. The boy merely nodded in response. "You're going to have Detention for the rest of this month with Filch, now get out," Severus said, causing Timothy to jump up and run to the door and out of the room as quickly as he could, the door closing behind him. Severus sighed as he stared at the closed door of his office and stared at it. He supposed that he really should go up and see Samara and make sure that she was fine.

**TBC..**

**A/n: **Well, I think that this has been the longest chapter that I have written so far. I'm not sure when I will be able to update again, but I'll be working on the story in the meantime as much as possible. I hope that you all enjoy the chapter. Please Review.


	63. Lapse In Occlumency

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 63: Lapse In Occlumency  
**_

Severus was slightly surprised when the door of that led into Samara's common room suddenly burst open before he even had a chance to knock and stumbled back slightly when he felt Samara's thin arms wrap around his neck tightly while she buried her face in his shoulder. "What took you so long," she murmured softly. Severus was too shocked to respond and the intoxicating fruity smell that was Samara befuddled his mind. All he knew was that his arms had slipped around her waist and were holding onto her tightly as he buried his face in her hair, allowing her body's warmth to seep into his stressed muscles and causing a relaxing effect immediately. Why had he not noticed before that he was so tense?

They remained in their tight embrace and Severus was given to realize in that lengthy stretch of time where the stood just holding each other, that he was as shaken as she was by the events of earlier on in the day. The sensible part of his brain had finally been switched off now that he was behind closed doors and in the disarming presence of Samara, and the more emotional side was now going into hyper-active mode. A million scenarios of how the night could have gone terribly awry started to run through his mind and he realized just how lucky they were that nothing serious had happened. Tightening his grasp on Samara, he pressed her body tightly against his, as if he wanted her to merge with him so that he could keep her forever safe from the world so that nothing ever happened to her. However, knowing that this was impossible, he loosened his grasp on her and allowed her to pull away so that he could look into her eyes.

Staring deep into her eyes, Severus removed one hand from her waist and gently reached up and caressed her face, running the pad of his thumb over her cheekbones gently. "Are you all right?" he asked in a low tone, gentler than any he had ever used. He was slightly surprised by the fact that he could manage it, however, didn't let it show or thought about it too much. All his thoughts and concerns were on the mortal goddess now standing before him, who he now realized he adored above all things and if need be would worship for the rest of his days.

Samara downcast her gaze and gently pulled away from him before turning around and walking over to the couch. Severus than realized that the common room was much too dark, considering it was only about one or two in the afternoon. As he closed the door behind himself, he watched as Samara placed leg on the couch before sitting down, having one leg tucked beneath her while the other was propped up and she hugged her knee. Severus noted that all the drapes had been drawn closed, shutting out the light of day and that the vast room was only lit by dying flames in the fireplace before Samara. It softly lit her crestfallen face, which was curtained on either side with her raven locks of silk, reflecting the flames with red highlights in her hair. He also finally noted that her long hair was once more perfectly straight and that she was now wearing pajamas.

"He said such awful things. I never led him on… at least, I didn't mean to. I… I didn't think I was," she said as she stared at the fire, her chin resting on her knee and her voice weakening as she spoke. Severus furrowed his brow in concern as he rushed over and sat down next to her. Inwardly he was furious that Timothy had made her feel bad. Samara was naturally a sweet and happy person, she had a friendly disposition and she didn't deserve to feel like this was her fault when it most certainly wasn't. Besides, he couldn't believe that she was listening to an idiotic boy that wasn't worth her time, and on top of everything was drunk!

"Samara," he said softly. She very slowly turned her gaze to look at him and stared at him with her saddened gaze. He found, as he stared at her, that there was something about her eyes that he saw that he never before really realized. He realized that somewhere inside Samara, there was an insecure girl that didn't like herself. That like most teenage girls there was probably some kind of nagging, quite nasty voice inside of her that undermined her every accomplishment and magnified every mistake. That no matter how pretty she was, that she wasn't as comfortable in her skin as he thought that she was and probably would never be. While humbling her, it broke his heart to see what this little voice allowed her to think of herself. That this little voice was what allowed men to step all over her if they so wished, and in the end left her feeling guilty. While she had come a long way since her last relationship and she stood up to him, which he found troublesome but was mostly proud of her for, he could see that the insecure teenage girl would remain in her for the rest of his life.

He wished that he could somehow say all the things that were in his heart. He wished that there were something that he could say to make all her pain go away. Unfortunately, his way with words was really more of a way with insults and in romantic situations he had no idea whatsoever what he was doing. Staring into her hazel eyes, that were watching him, waiting for him to say something more, he felt completely unworthy of her. He couldn't even console her, how was he supposed to deserve her? How would he ever, if it happened, supposed to pleasure her?

"I simply don't deserve you," Severus said as he looked at Samara. Samara frowned slightly as she looked at him, confused about where that came from. Shifting so that she was seated closer to him, she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek. Severus closed his eyes and allowed for her to embrace him as he lightly squeezed th arm that was draped around him. He could smell her all around him, and somehow it did wonders for him. He relaxed into her embrace, rejoicing in it, despite the fact that he knew that he didn't deserve it. Perhaps that was what made it all that more precious.

"You are so silly Severus," Samara said with a smile. Severus opened his eyes and looked at her out of the corner of his eye. She had her cheek pressed against his as she was kind og hugging him from behind. Her hair lightly mixed with his and brushed the side of his face. Hover, he could still see her fine features and he knew that she was smiling, though he didn't understand why. "You are a good man and you have a good heart, perhaps it's a little twisted and strange, but there is nothing wrong with that," Samara said with a smile as she looked into his eyes and placed another kiss on his cheek. "I wouldn't change you for the world, I love you just the way that you are and everything about you."

Severus turned to stare at her and one look into her eyes told him that she was being completely honest, and there wasn't even a trace of a lie in her statement. Sighing a bit contently though he did not allow for it to show, Severus leaned in and placed a kiss on her forehead. He grabbed her arms from around him and pulled her into his lap. He allowed his arms to slither around her thin form and held her, while staring deeply into her eyes. He was quite certain that his eyes were unguarded and that for the first time in perhaps the entirety of his life, he was not using Oclummency to close himself off and was leaving himself open and vulnerable. Yet he couldn't find that he care. Not at all. He wanted to be open with her, and he didn't care if she could see just how much he adored her.

"You're exquisite," he said as he stared at her. Samara blushed under the intensity of his gaze and the adoration in his eyes. However, the large smile that brightened her features was unavoidable. She threw her thin arms around his neck and hugged him close. All the problems in the world seemed to melt away in those instants, and though Severus was lost in the moment of perfection, her knew that reality would catch up with them soon and that they had to return to it. However, for the moment, he wanted nothing more than what he was. Samara happy, and in his arms.

TBC...

A/n:Sorry for taking long and the short chapter, but like I said, my compy crashed and its hard to update. I need to get it fixed. anyway I hope that you all liked the chapter. I will update again, much sooner than it took this time. Love you all for being patient! Please review!


	64. Heathcliff Green

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 64: **__**Heathcliff**__** Green**_

The following Saturday there was yet another Dueling Club. The meeting passed in much the same fashion as all the previous meetings and a problem had yet to present itself. It seemed to Severus that most of the students were on their best behavior so as to keep the Dueling Club from being shut down. That isn't to say that there weren't any problems between the students during the club, namely Slytherins and Gryffindors, however, there was nothing too serious a couple of detentions and taking of points couldn't solve.

The rest of November passed by without too great an incident. Over the course of the last week or so of November, Severus found that he and Samara were in a very good spirits, at least with each other. There weren't any arguments, especially as she was still reporting to him the every singular event in her day, most especially those that concerned the boys that surrounded on a regular day to day basis.

Severus was quite vexed that her circle of 'friends' still included Timothy Elias, but Severus supposed that was merely because everyone just pretended it didn't happen. Mr. Elias was actually quite embarrassed about the whole thing and it seemed to Severus that he was being doubly submissive and overly kind with Samara. A part of him wished that there was a bit of a sadist in Samara and that she would take advantage of Timothy by making him do torturous things to make him pay for what he said to her and the way that he treated her. However, Samara was much too kind and forgiving for that. Severus didn't know if he thought that good or vexing.

Either way, as he made his way down the halls on this last Sunday of November, he found that he was quite relieved that November was at last over. While there had been incidents that he found quite disagreeable, and while the month had passed slowly, it was finally over and tomorrow would start a new month. He wondered, as he made his way down the hall what December would bring. He was actually counting down the days until Christmas break. No work for two weeks, not to mention that it meant that he would have so much more time to spend with Samara.

"I need to have a word, Professor Snape," Severus turned away from his thoughts to who was addressing him and nodded, surprised by the look on Samara's face. As he'd been heading down to the Great hall for breakfast and saw that she was coming out of the Great Hall, he wasn't too surprised to have run into her. However, he was surprised that she desired to speak to him and as he turned on his heel to head back to the Dungeons from which he had just came, he wondered what this was about.

In silence, they both descended the stairs and walked through the dark Dungeon corridors towards his office. Severus felt like the Dungeons were much cooler today than on any other day and he had a feeling that had nothing to do with the fact that it was the last day of November. As they made their way, Severus cast a brief glance over at Samara as they walked, and she seemed quite distracted. He could tell that her thoughts were very far away and that there was a concerned expression on her face. She didn't seem happy, which was strange considering the fact that she was always happy.

"Well?" Severus asked after he'd opened his office door, ushered her inside and closed the door behind himself. Samara merely turned to him and raised her right hand. His eyes slowly drifted to the long thin fingers that were holding a piece of parchment. His eyes narrowed on the letter and he thought that there was only one person that really would be writing to Samara and that would be her mother.

"My mother had twins, five days ago on the twenty-fifth. A girl whom she named Evelyn and a boy, Heathcliff," Samara informed him, her tone not sounding very happy about the fact that she had just been informed that she now had a baby brother and sister. However, Severus was distracted by the boy's name.

"Heathcliff?" Severus asked, trying not to sound condescending. Samara nodded as she sighed. She didn't seem at all pleased by the name choice; that much was obvious. Severus wondered if it was just the name that had put her in a bad mood.

"She named him after my father, who was named after a terrible character in a muggle classic called Wuthering Hieghts. Apparently it was my grandmother's favorite book," Samara said with a shrug of her thingshoulders. "Well at least the Heathcliff in the book had one redeeming quality; it was his love for the equally detestable Catherine. I don't think the same can be said about my father, I'm not sure he loved my mother at all," Samara said as he gazed in thought. Severus raised a brow at this. It seemed to him that she knew more about this muggle novel than he had initially thought. He tilted his head as he looked at her in curiosity.

"I take it that you too have read the novel," Severus said as he casually leaned on the door and looked over at her. Samara's head jerked up and she narrowed her eyes at him, noticing the mocking tone of voice that he was using. Severus smirked over at her, hoping that he wasn't taking his teasing her too seriously. He could see the corner of one side of her mouth twitch and he knew that she wanted to smile, but wasn't allowing herself. For a moment, he wondered why that was and if this was all that she had asked him to speak to him about. He guessed that she had to have more to say, for she wasn't allowing herself to smile and her eyes still looked slightly troubled.

"Unlike you, I didn't have a playmate to go to the park with. I spent most of my childhood summers in the muggle, public library by my house. I read many muggle classics," Samara replied. Severus raised a brow at this and crossed his arms over his chest, wondering why she was being so defensive. However, he merely watched her as she imitated him and crossed her arms over her own chest. However, hers seemed in more of an effort to hold herself, something he noted when she looked down at the floor and her hair fell on either side of her face. "My father left my mother alone with Emily. He took off and he took Heathcliff the second, as my mother says he prefers to call him, with him," Samara said steadily and in a soft voice.

Severus frowned as he uncrossed his arms and got off the door while frowning. He could now understand why Samara was upset. She was worried about her mother and the newborn girl. Severus slowly approached Samara and held onto her shoulders gently but firmly, causing her to look up at him with her deeply concerned gaze. "How is your mother?" Severus asked as he looked down at her. Samara sighed as she leaned in and placed her head in his chest, clutching at the front of her robes with her hands, her right hand crinkling the letter that she still held in her hand. Severus' arms instinctively wrapped around her thin body and ran softly over her back, trying to sooth her.

"She says that she's fine, that she knows that he will take very good care of the baby. She says that she doesn't have time to be distraught about it because of the baby and that I shouldn't worry about it," Samara replied with a heavy sigh into his chest. She breathed in his scent slowly and closed her eyes, feeling slightly sleepy and comforted in his arms. It was like being in a warm, muggy, cozy little cabin in front of a fire after standing out in the cold for over an hour. She was relieved that she had found him just as she was exiting the Great Hall to look for him. She wasn't sure that she would have been able to hold it all together if he weren't there. When she first read the letter, she felt as though she was going to go nuts with the worry and panic over her mother, but being in Severus presence was calming her and allowed her to think more clearly. Though, she did feel sleepy in the enclosure of his strong arms.

"Why tell you about it than?" Severus asked as he looked at her. Samara slowly pulled away from him and looked up into his eyes. He could see it all over her face that what she had brought him in here to tell him had not yet been said and that he wasn't going to like it at all. He frowned as he put his hands on her shoulders once more and held her at arms length, looking deep into her eyes. Samara squirmed slightly beneath his gaze and pulled his grip from her arms as she looked down at the floor.

"Umm… well, that's what I need to tell you," Samara said as she looked down at the floor and scratched her neck. Severus took in a deep breath and clenched his teeth for whatever blow was coming. He wondered what was so bad that she didn't want to say. "You see… she doesn't want to be alone and she… well she wants me to come home for the Christmas holidays," Samara said as she looked at him. Severus clenched his teeth as his arched brow raised higher in vexation. While he understood Samara's mother, he was looking forward for the break mainly because it meant he would have more time to be with Samara, now he wouldn't even have that. He wasn't at all happy, but he found that he couldn't say anything. Pinching the bridge of his nose, and blamed this all on the man that was her father. "I'm sorry Sevy."

"It's not your fault," Severus said, a little harsher than he meant as he looked up at her. She looked somewhat startled by his tone. Sighing, Severus slowly reached out and pulled Samara into a hug and kissed the top of her head. "I'm sorry too Samara," he said gently as he buried his face in her hair. He supposed that now that he was no longer looking forward to the holidays, that they would come much faster than before, and would seem to last much longer now than they would have if she had stayed at the castle for the holidays. It seemed to be a fact of life that time was always working against you. "What are the chances that the two Heathcliffs return before the holidays?" Severus asked.

Samara laughed lightly at him trying to be optimistic as she pulled away. "Slim to none," she replied as she looked up at him and placed a chaste kiss on his lips. Severus sighed as he leaned in and placed another kiss on her lips. He supposed that the best that he could do for the moment was completely forget about the two weeks he would have to spend without her and just hope for a miracle.

**TBC…**

**A/n: **Sorry about another short chapter, but I'm supposed to go to Mexico in December, and I want to get as much of this fic done as possible before then. Anyway, hope that you all enjoy the chapter. I will update again soon. Please Review!**  
**


	65. Sour Snow Angel

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 65: Sour Snow Angel**_

The first couple days of December slipped by painfully slowly, and Severus guessed that had a lot to do with the fact that Flitwick started decorating for the holidays as soon as possible. At first it was only small things that Severus noted here and there, such as certain statues suddenly having Christmas hats, wreaths on some classroom doors, and a banister here or there lined with golden or red bows. He tried his best when he walked through the halls to ignore all the decorations and the excitement that was spreading through the students now that the holidays were approaching.

The sign up lists had been posted in common rooms, to know which students wished to remain in the castle for the holidays. The students had also been informed that the following Dueling Club meeting, the last before the holidays, was on the 6th and that the 13th would be the following Hogsmead weekend. This seemed to in particular place the students in a type of better mood that made Severus feel quite a bit sourer as he thought about the prospects of the upcoming break. While it was only the third day of December, judging by what the other Heads of House said, not many students were planning on spending the holidays at the castle and many Professors were planning to head home as well.

As he sat and ate his lunch, he tried to ignore the colleagues sitting on either side of him. Everyone seemed to be going home for the holidays this year, to be with their families and Severus found himself a little resentful at this. Mainly it was only because Samara would be one of the many people that would be returning home and it meant that he would spend, yet another Christmas, alone. It only seemed that everything was a constant reminder to him as to why he particularly hated all Holidays, most especially Christmas.

Christmas had never been a particularly happy time when he was at home. Often times his parents were bickering over the holidays, or else the house was completely silent. There were many times, when the atmosphere inside his house was much worse than the weather outside with its roaring winds and horrible snow storms. It was a very bleak time of the year, and really the only time that he remembered when he didn't mind Christmas was when he was very young.

They were vague memories that he was sure he should not be able to remember. A time long before memory was something that had properly developed in his brain. He wasn't even sure if they could really be called memories actually. It wasn't like an image that he remembered but more of a sound, a snippet of a tune that he couldn't remember and had no real recollection of. However, with that one little, evanescent sound, he felt love and the spirit of the holidays that he was supposed to feel when they came, but usually did not. Severus didn't know why, but when he caught that fleeting tune in his mind, he felt like he was enveloped in a soft blanket like Samara's ducky blanket and felt small. He felt like a somewhere inside him, there had once been a giggly child.

Growing up, whenever these feelings came to him, whenever he started to remember that piece of a tune, he always tried to hold onto it. He always felt so empty when it slipped away and he was left with nothing. Try as he might to hold on, to whatever feeling had briefly come over him and filled him with some type of security, he was never able to. He resented that, this little bit of some type of ghost was all he had, when he was always surrounded by people that had so much more. It filled him with unimaginable anger and hate towards the people around him, he even resented Lily at times, because she was one of the many people that had something he didn't have. She had a caring and loving family that loved her for everything that she was. And what did he have? He had the ghost of a tune that he didn't even know was real. It was a little bit of nothing that wasn't even complete. It was like a puff smoke, that you couldn't hold onto, a shadow in the corner of your eye that disappeared the moment you were aware of it.

The older that he became, the more that he resented the sound, because he felt hopeless. He always pushed it away before it could take over him, because he knew that he would never know where it came from. He knew that this piece of a song, or whatever it was, was forever going to elude him. That it was one of the many mysteries in life that he would never discover and he didn't want to waste any more time than he already had, obsessing over it and trying to discover what it was. It wasn't like he was going to find any truth in it. It wasn't like if he heard the complete thing he would find understanding and everything would be complete. Nothing was going to be resolved, nothing would fall in to place. He would still be who he was, have the same past and have the same dismal future.

For now, all he had was the present and that was what he was trying to keep himself grounded to. All he had was Samara and that was more than good enough for the moment. He didn't want to look toward the future. He had no desire for time to speed up, he had nothing to look forward to. He didn't even want to be aware of the fact that he was resigning himself to a lonely fate. All he wanted to think about that it was December the third and ignore the fact that Christmas was coming and that inevitably Samara would be heading home in about a little over two weeks and that he would not be able to see her for about two weeks. Of course, this was an extremely hard feat, considering all the damned decorations and all the excitement plaguing everyone in the school and was the reason for the Potions Master sour mood lately.

Fortunately Severus didn't particularly care about what anyone thought, nor was he concerned for his treatment of others, not that he ever did. All that mattered was Samara, and while he did not spare her his sour moods when she was in his classroom, he more than tried to make up for them when they were alone. Though, he wished that he had more time to spend with Samara today. Unfortunately it was Wednesday, and that meant that she would be spending most of her evening in the hospital wing helping Madam Pomfrey and learning about medical magic.

"Will you be staying at the castle for the holidays?" Severus turned to look over at Pandora who was asking and shook his head in response, but made no other move to respond as he cast a glance about the hall. All the students seemed to be busy eating, talking. The hall was absolutely filled with wide-smiling faces, shouts of excitement and laughter. Severus found it all quite sickening really. Today alone he seemed to have taken in the very least 50 points from Ravenclaw, 80 from Hufflepuff and about 120 from Gryffindor. He even took points from his own house. Severus was sure that Slytherin was down 100 points today and he was sure a quarter of the points taken were taken by himself.

Sensing that her colleague wasn't in a very good mood, Cross seemed to decide not to ask him further on the subject or say any more to him. Severus greatly appreciated this as he continued to shovel food in his mouth, even though he found that it had no taste. Trying his best not to think about anything at all, Severus tried to concentrate as best he could on his plate and ignored the sounds that were going on all around him. After a moment of staring at the plate, trying his best to tune everything out, he found himself irritated as he thought if the Great Hall was getting louder or if it was just his irritation that made it seem to be mounting.

However, as he noted that the uproar of excitement reached the staff table, he guessed not and found himself looking up to see what all the hubbub was about. Casting a glance out the windows, he suddenly realized what everyone was making a big deal about. At long last, it was snowing. At last the first snow fall of the season had arrived, much to Severus' further vexation. Severus stared out the window and watched snowflakes falling thickly and yet very lazily down to the ground and grimaced, before turning to scowl at the hall. You would have thought that no one had seen snow before.

Turning away from the spectacle, Severus eyes roved through the hall until he spotted Samara. He wasn't too surprised that Samara wasn't greatly excited like everyone else was, but she was smiling brightly while listening attentively to her three friends. He wondered as he stared at them, if they would be having a snow fight once more when there was enough snow, or if that had just been a one time, spur of the moment thing. Severus glared as he stared at Timothy and remembered the previous year when the boy had accidentally hit him with a snow ball. He really had grown to hate the boy by now. Though, as much as he would have liked to openly show it the way he showed it towards Bill Weasley and Eric Williamson, he couldn't.

Rising from his chair, Severus decided that he'd had enough of this already and headed out of the hall for a very long day. For the next two periods he would have the Gryffindor and Slytherins, both the fourth years and fifth years. It was something that always put him in a bad mood and he supposed it was a good thing that he was not able to see Samara on Wednesdays, for he was not sure that he'd be able to shake off his anger, even in her calming presence.

---

Severus raised a brow as he watched the Quill that Samara had given him, rise and begin to write on the parchment it was set upon. Turning his gaze away from the sight, he turned to see what time it was and wondered what it was that she was doing up at eleven o'clock. Leaning forward, he ignored the many essays on his desk, the pot of red ink, and the quill he had just laid down and stared at the parchment as she Quill was slowly placed on the table. It had been a very long day, and it was made longer by the fact that sleep was eluding him. Deciding to do something valuable with his time, he decided to stay up grading as many essays as he could until sleep finally seeped into his mind. Ever since December had started, he'd been setting more and more essays and though it was only the third day, his stack of essays was considerable.

A smile slowly slipped onto his face as he stared at her writing on the page. _Up grading essays?_ It was a simple question, but he could picture Samara smiling at the fact that she knew that he was. It made him wonder how she could possibly know that he was still up. However, instead of putting too much thought in this, he found himself slightly scowling at the paper and wondering what _she_ was doing up at this hour when she had class in the morning. Sighing, he picked up the quill and scribbled his question to her. He wasn't waiting long for the response. _It seems that all the Professors have conspired to make our last weeks miserable by giving a lot of homework. Meet me by the lake._

Severus was a little jarred by her last statement and immediately picked up the quill to write, _what?_ He put down the quill and stared at if for several minutes as he gripped the arms of his chair. The minutes slipped by painfully slowly and he groaned as he realized that she must have left as soon as she finished writing the response and that she was probably already on her way. Groaning at her impulsiveness rearing its reckless head, he stood up and grabbed the cloak hanging off the back of his chair as he exited his private quarters and walked rapidly through the maze of dark corridors towards the staircase that would lead up to the entrance hall.

He didn't know what had compelled Samara to suddenly want to see him and he didn't comprehend why she would want to see him outside. He sighed in exasperation as he rushed up the stairs, taking them two at a time as he ran up and exited the entrance hall furiously. He knew that he was scowling and that if he was going to see Samara that he should try and calm himself, but he found himself becoming angry. Had not they agreed that they were going to do everything in their power to keep their relationship a secret. Telling him to meet her out by the lake when it was way past curfew seemed rather foolish and he couldn't help but be angry as he burst out onto the grounds.

Severus cross the snow covered, for it had not stopped snowing since the afternoon and Severus guessed that there was a good five or six inches of snow blanketing the school grounds, at a furious gate. In the cold night air, Severus could feel his breath before him, coming in large puffs. The night was clear, strangely enough, considering the heavy snow fall all day. The sky was particularly bright with stars and the moonbeams from the nearly full moon were reflecting off the pure white snow and making it wink at him.

Had the Potions Master been in any humor, he would have appreciated how beautiful the grounds and the castle looked. However, as he walked, he found his anger being replaced by that all too familiar, angry-worry that clenched his stomach whenever Samara did something reckless. Severus quickened his pace towards the lake was he constantly cast his look around the grounds, seeking out Samara. Had she already been out there waiting for him? Would she be safe?

It didn't take him very long to reach the lake; however, as he slowed his pace and looked around, he found that he could not spot Samara anywhere. He imagined, as he came to a stop, that he had beaten her to the lake. Scowling out at the lake, which was starting to freeze and covered by thin sheets of ice here and there, Severus tried to calm himself. Unfortunately, he was a bit on edge and when he felt something quite familiar, hit the back of his shoulder he nearly jumped out of his skin.

Instead, he merely whirled around and glared at the laughing figure. "I'm sorry Sev, I just couldn't resist myself," Samara said as she straightened up and looked over at him. She had her long black hair lose and if fell over her black-cloaked, thin shoulders. Severus raised a brow at her and continued to glared at her as he clenched his hands at his sides. "You're such a sour pus Sevy, that's why I brought you out here. Loosen up," she said with a charming smile as she bent down and picked up another snow ball and launched it at him.

"Stop behaving like a child Samara," Severus scolded as he continued to glare at her. He hadn't bothered to move and the snow ball had hit him square in the chest. "I've warned you not to be so impulsive, do you want us to be caught?" he said coldly as he continued to glare over at her. Samara's smile fell as she crossed her arms over her chest and scowled over at him. He could see that she was mildly angry, but compared to the way that he felt at the moment, he found that he couldn't really care.

"Oh, I'll show you a child," Samara said as she bent down and started to roll up more snowballs and started to launch an attack at him. When the first two hit him on the chest, Severus realized that she was throwing with more force and noting the devilish grin on her face and the gleam in her eyes, he decided that he was better off trying to dodge them. Bending down and moving quickly, Severus quickly made his way over to a nearby tree for cover and scowled over at Samara who was now once more laughing.

Severus raised a sleek brow at this. He was not about to let himself be with snowballs by a thin little girl, even if said little girl was the woman that he loved. Slowly, Severus pulled out his wand and pointed it to the snow and launched several, poorly compressed snowballs (so that they would not injure her), in her direction, at the same time. Samara immediately stopped laughing and launched in his direction as snow started to cover her black cloak and robes. Severus felt a smile slip on his face as he ran out of his hiding place and she started to chase him.

He was able to run circles around her, given how long his legs were, and the fact that Samara couldn't stop laughing as she chased him. Severus felt his insides go very warm as Samara's laughter filled the air and made him forget about everything, including all his dreads to be alone when the holidays came. Something quite strange had taken over him, and as he ran, turned to face Samara, to tease her and evaded her outstretched hands by changing the direction he was running in at the last moment, he realized that he was actually having _fun_. Something he never even had when he was a teenager, not even with Lily. Well with Lily, it wasn't really this type of fun as they were both always much too mature to do something like this, even as children.

"Got you!" Samara said excitedly as she caught a hold of him by the shoulder. Her running momentum, and the fact that he was about to switch direction once more, caught him off balance and caused him to fall over. Due to the fact that Samara was holding onto him, she couldn't help but fall with him onto the soft ground. She couldn't stop giggling as they lay on the ground together, ignoring the cold at their back. Severus chuckled slightly at her infectious giggling. "You're laughing!" Samara exclaimed happily as she stopped and raised herself on her elbow to look down at his face.

Severus stopped laughing immediately and turned a look full of wonder at Samara. Her hair was disheveled due to all the running, and there was snow all over her hair and robes. Her cheeks were pink from the cold and activity, while her eyes were sparkling with mirth and merriment. Above her head, the moon seemed poised perfectly so it caused halo over her raven head and Severus found himself studying her intently, committing what she looked like to memory as his heart pounded in his ribs.

Reaching out, Severus gently caressed her soft chin and with the backs of his fingers as he gently ran them up her jaw. Due to the fact that she was leaning over him, he could feel her entire right side, lined against the left side of his body. She was breathing a little hard due to all the running and despite the cold, he could feel the warmth radiating from her body. Slight zephyrs of cold breeze brought her fruity fragrance to his heavy breathing and made him yearn to taste her. "You are driving me mad," Severus said softly as he looked at her.

Samara cracked a broad grin at this. "Then we are a normal couple after all," she said lightly before leaning in and pressing a kiss to his lips. It was quite brief and chaste, but Severus loved to taste her lips and feel them against his own. It hardly mattered what kind of a kiss it was, so long it was from her. As she pulled away however, he could feel longing setting into him and realized that he was really going to miss her.

"I'm not sure what I'll do with myself while you are gone," he said irritably as he stared up into her eyes. She stared down at him and tenderly brushed his hair from his face. He could see by the look in her gaze that she was going to miss him and was just as unhappy about this was he was.

"Perhaps you can visit me?" she asked tentatively, biting at her raspberry red lips. He guessed a combination of her biting on her lips and the cold had caused them to swell slightly and looked all the more tantalizing. "After all, you'll know where I'm going to be and…"

"You know that I would want nothing more, but you know every well that I can not. I don't see your mother understanding why your Head of House is visiting you. Besides, isn't the whole point that you spend time with your mother?" Severus said as he looked at her.

"Do you have to be so damn reasonable sometimes Sevvy?" she teased. Severus smirked up at her.

"One of us has to," he replied.

"Hey!" Samara said indignantly. Severus continued to smirk as her as he rolled them over so that he was leaning over her slightly as she was lying back on the ground. He was sure that his entire back and his hair were caked with snow, but he didn't care as he leaned down and captured Samara's lips in a playful kiss. "God!"

"I'm not a god," Severus said as he looked down at her with a teasing glint in his eyes. Samara smiled up at him. "You, on the other hand…" he said as he took her hand gently and brought it to his lips and placed a small kiss on it. Samara bit slightly on her slightly swollen, bottom lip as she looked up at him and blushed at the compliment. Her mind was reeling, trying to figure out if he'd ever complimented her before like this.

Her heart was beating hard and she felt like she often did when the kissed deeply. She couldn't help but feeling her body tense up to be so close to him and desiring for him to make love to her. Now, as he was laying next to her, his body partially pressing against her and speaking in that velvety baritone of his, she felt her will to not seduce him dwindling. While she wasn't one too particularly enjoy carnal pleasure, in fact she never really had or felt the desire to, with Severus it was a completely different story and she had to try hard to keep herself from kissing him. She wanted to respect his rule for them to take things slowly.

"If I'm a goddess, does that make you an angel that has to worship me?" she asked, teasing him softly, trying to suppress her desire to press her body against him and kissing him until his brain turned into mush. Severus smiled as he leaned down and placed a tentative kiss on her lips, causing her heart to flutter more than it already was and her blood to boil more so than before.

"I already do," Severus murmured between kisses as he led a trail along her jaw to her neck. Samara's breathing became ragged and Severus felt a smile slipping on his face as he continued to kiss her neck. He placed open mouth kisses on it, allowing the moisture of his slightly parted lips to tease her skin and causing her to writhe ever so slightly beneath him. It pleased him to no end the way that he actually had power over her. Smiling devilishly and feeling impish, he stuck out his tongue and ran the tip over the artery in her neck, applying slight pressure and causing her to moan in pleasure. His body immediately reacted to her moan and he decided that he should stop. "We should get back to the castle," he said as he stared down into her eyes and could see the desire that was still in them. He smirked as she blushed and blinked.

"Anything you say, Sour Snow angel," she said as she brushed some snowflakes from his shoulder and looked at him teasingly. Severus narrowed his eyes at her and glared at her playfully before standing up and helping her to her feet. Pulling out his wand, he made the snow all over the both of them disappear, before they walked up to the castle. Everything was forgotten, and nothing was left but the residue of the enjoyment that they just had, making Severus feel as light as the snowflakes. However, he hoped that Samara never called him Sour Snow angel again.

**TBC…**

**A/n:** Well I hope that everyone enjoyed their happiness because here comes the drama. LOL. Anyway, I'll try to update soon and as always, please review!**  
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	66. Where The Cats Lounge

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 66: Where **__**The**__** Cats Lounge**_

So far it was a rather uneventful Saturday and while Severus wasn't particularly looking forward to the Dueling Club meeting that would take place in an hour, he wished that he had something to do. He'd spent most of the time this morning grading and he found that he was finished a lot sooner than he expected. He also had yet to see Samara all day, and while he was sure that Samara was probably doing all her homework today, he couldn't help but feel slightly peeved. Of course, his vexation stemmed more from the fact that days were quickly starting to slip away and so was his remaining time with Samara. It was something that he really couldn't help, try as he might.

As Severus entered the staff lounge, he was surprised to see how many teachers were in there. Stiffly, he nodded his head in greeting to McGonagall and Sinistra, both of whom were seated together drinking tea, while Professor Vector sat at another table, quite absorbed in what he assumed was a letter to her husband, for she was always writing letters to her husband. "Good afternoon Severus," Sinistra and McGonagall called, pausing their conversation to greet him momentarily. Even Professor Vector paused in her writing and looked up at him with a warm smile and Severus found himself wondering why there were so many female Professors at Hogwarts.

Nodding stiffly in greeting to all the Professors, Severus made his way straight over toward the tea kettle and continued to ponder the questions he'd asked himself. Including himself, there were only a handful of male Professors, _who actually taught_, countable on one hand. But counting all the female Professors, he had to think that there was at the very least nine. Pouring himself some tea, he wondered if it was mere coincidence, if perhaps women were more likely to teach than men, if Dumbledore preferred to hire women to men, or if it was a combination of all three of these things.

Severus paused for a moment as he poured his tea and thought that he had to be very bored to be pondering these things. Thinking this and banishing his previous thoughts, Severus continued to pour himself his tea, before tuning to settle on the empty couch. Usually he did not seek to be in the lounge unless it were empty, for he didn't seek out human contact, however he was bored at the moment with nothing to do. He supposed it wouldn't kill him to spend one half-hour with his colleagues. Besides, he thought that perhaps he should put an appearance every now and then with the rest of the Professors so that nothing would appear suspicious, which appearing more of a misanthrope than he usually appeared to be would have arisen.

Picking up a discarded Daily Prophet on the arm of the couch he was sitting on, Severus pretended to peruse the articles on the front page as the noise around him started up again. The lounge was particularly quiet, despite the fact that he could hear McGonagall and Sinistra continuing their private conversation and the scratching of Vector's quill; Severus had never been around her enough to be on a first name basis with her. It was not because she was unfriendly, but he simply didn't have much to talk about with the Arithmancy Professor, and from what he heard of her conversation with the other Professors, she had quite the tendency to speak about her husband. Though now he understood that she was in madly in love with her husband, he still did not want to hear about it and therefore avoided the Professor. Although, he did wonder how she and her husband made their relationship work when she spent most of her time at the castle. Actually, now that he thought about it, he found himself wondering what she was doing at the castle. Usually she spent her weekends with her husband from what he knew.

Finding himself a little too curious about his fellow Professor, he decided that it was high time to turn his attention to the articles he was skimming through. He raised a brow as he stared at the small picture of Mr. Vector and a small article about his successful trip to northern India and procuring something or other that Severus found himself quickly loosing interest in. He knew that the man worked in Gringotts and was known for his excellent sense of appreciating something and what it was made of. Many people even commented on how it rivaled the Goblins, something he'd heard from Vector once, made him quite unpopular with them at work. Once more, not something he was very interested in, but now found the answer to why Vector was not with her husband. Apparently the trip had taken a week and he was due to return to Britain in the next couple of days.

Turning his eyes to what was the most important news on the front page, Severus found them quickly turning from that to the person who had just opened the door. All the air had immediately tensed just as Cross did as she stood in the doorway and stared at the people that were in the lounge. After a somewhat awkward silence, Cross smiled weakly and greeted the Professors with a curt greeting as she quickly turned to grab herself some tea. Severus cast a glance from the back of Cross's head to the other silent occupants in the room.

The look of hatred was immediately noted on Sinistra's face as she gave cross a brief, but very scathing look before turning back to McGonagall, who had raised a brow and was watching curiously, though it was apparent she did not want to get in the middle of anything. As for Vector, she had paused in writing her letter and cast a glance over her shoulder to the Astronomy professor. Severus, who was looking over the newspaper at his colleagues smirked at the look on Vectors long face. She looked like at the moment, she wanted nothing better than to quite the lounge, her big brown eyes shadowed by her furrowed brows.

Hurriedly Vector gathered her long letter, placed it inside an envelope and stood from where she was sitting. "Excuse me Professors, going to run this off to the owlery," she said with a nervous smile as she hurriedly rushed out of the lounge. Severus raised a brow while witnessing this hasty exit in amusement and wondered if perhaps he had missed something recently in the relationship of Sinistra and Cross recently. Was there a new development in the animosity between them that had heightened the level so that everyone felt that they should flee whenever the two were in the same room with each other?

Severus turned his gaze away from the closed door and looked over at Sinistra and McGonagall, whom were exchanging glances and it seemed to him that Sinistra was being quite stubborn and headstrong and refused to leave the room. Severus continued to smirk as he at last turned his eyes back to the paper that he was pretending to read and continued to as if he had not noticed a thing. He knew that he really should leave, for he would undoubtedly be placed in the middle of something that he did not want to be in. However, he was curious to see what was happening with the staff lately and the truth was, he did not wish to do what Vector had just done. He hardly saw running away from the uncomfortable situation as something very manly.

"How are you today Pandora," Minerva said, when Cross had turned around, sending out the clear message that she was not going to be dragged into the middle of something between the two women. Severus glanced over his paper as Cross turned around and looked over at Sinistra. She didn't seem happy about the fact that McGonagall had just welcomed conversation with the woman, but she wasn't about to hate McGonagall for it. Severus guessed if he were to get into the middle of something like this, he would have had his head chopped off by Sinistra and handed to him on a silver platter, probably only because he was a man. It was probably far more wiser for men not to meddle in the affairs of women than to try and make peace between them.

"Fine thank you, and yourself," Pandora replied, trying to sound friendly and pleasant, but Severus heard a slight strain in her voice.

"Well, thank you," McGonagall responded. A slightly uncomfortable silence followed, and Severus guessed by the fact that he didn't hear Cross move, that she was still standing before them. He wondered why Cross simply didn't escape, for he was sure that this had to be quite tormenting to her. However, he didn't have to wonder too long, for he was sure it was pride. The same self-righteous pride that probably kept everyone else in this room. Vector, seemed to be able to put away her pride. Severus wondered for a moment if this was a good thing or a bad thing and supposed that it was good for husband.

"Aurora, how are you?" Cross said, sounding a bit terse, but still trying to sound friendly. Severus cast a glance over at Sinistra, who smiled quite malignantly and crossed her arms over her chest. She was glaring over at Pandora very blatantly, and Severus could see that her dark eyes were glinting strangely.

"I'm great, but are you sure you are all right Pandora. You look as though you haven't slept a wink. Look at those bags beneath your eyes!" He heard Sinistra replied, feigning concern. Severus smirked at this, if there were anyway to make Pandora Cross upset was to tease her about her looks. After all, they seemed to be the most important thing to her. Aurora had to have known this and was exploiting it quite maliciously. "Even though I have classes at all hours of the night do not look like that! Would you like to borrow some potions dear? I'm sure Severus would be only too happy to provide them for you. Or have you yet to ensnare him? Having more trouble than your are used to? Or is it simply not challenging enough for you to really want if he isn't already taken?"

Severus continued to read and pretend that he wasn't aware of anything that was going on as he turned the page of the newspaper he was looking at. However, he found himself scowling at the letters on the page. What did Aurora mean by that and why in the bloody hell was she bringing him into it? What did he have to do with anything? And why hadn't McGonagall said anything to stop this train, wreck, for he could immediately feel the change in the air. Where before it was thick with awkwardness, not it was pulsing with animosity and anger. This probably had a lot to do with the fact that Aurora was insulting their colleague and Cross wasn't just going to sit back and let that happen.

"Aurora, you really need to grow up!" Pandora said crossly. "We were teenagers! I was seventeen, it was a stupid mistake! Admittedly, it wasn't the proudest moment in my life, but I'm very sorry about it. Besides, are you not better off? Move on with your life already," Pandora said, trying to sound more gentle and imploring, but Severus could still hear the anger in her voice.

Suddenly, there was a scarping noise. It was the distinct sound of four wooden legs, scraping across the floor and Severus was sure someone had just gotten up. It didn't take a genius to figure out just who that person was. "That's easy for you to say, you weren't dating the boy for damn near two years to walk in on him snogging with some hussy a mere week after he has asked you to marry him!" Aurora said indignantly. "And all for what, Pandora, a stupid caprice? You just couldn't stand it could you. You always had to take everything from me didn't you?" Aurora questioned, her voice rising slightly and sounding angrier. Severus raised a brow at this, so this was the cause behind all their discord.

"I didn't know that you were engaged and he came on to me!" Pandora said in her defense. "And I did no such thing in taking what was yours. That is quite the blatant lie, you were the one that was jealous of me because I was smarter than you."

"Well that must've had a lot to do with the fact that you had no life, and no friends to speak of," Aurora said angrily as she looked at Pandora. Severus raised a brow at this, how was it possible that Pandora had no friends when she looked the way that she did and was so overly friendly.

"I did have friends!" Pandora said indignantly.

"Yeah, when we came back for out fifth years and only because you drastically reconstructed yourself. You suddenly took care of your hair, you got rid of those awful glasses and you probably broke all your teeth on purpose to have them magically reconstructed so that they looked perfect, didn't you?" Aurora said angrily. "But before that, no one would even look at you. Why? Because you were an unkempt disaster that always kept her nose in her books and did not come up for air for only a little bit. And even after you changed, everyone hated you! No one wanted to say anything, only because they needed to be your friends."

"You are one to talk, Aurora, all your so called best friends talked behind your back!" Pandora said angrily. Severus looked up and could see that Pandora had actually been hurt by the last statement. Severus cast a brief glance at McGonagall, who was sitting back, watching intensely. He wondered for a moment why she was allowing this to continue, but knowing McGonagall there was a reason behind it and if this got too far, Severus was sure she would not hesitate to intercede.

Severus looked over at Aurora, who was sneering and clearly not at all affected by this. "What, do you honestly think that I did not know? I'm a SLYTHERIN, we ALL talk about each other behind each other's backs. We know there is no such thing as friendship," Aurora said. "At least I'm not pathetic enough to care. Oh but wait, you actually thought that those people were around you because they liked you. Aww, how simple minded. And you were the smart one? I highly doubt that. All you did was regurgitate everything you read. There isn't a singular, original thought in that strawberry blonde head of yours," Aurora finished, sounding quite condescending. "That is why unlike you, I was made Head girl, and you just couldn't stand that, could you? Do you hate yourself so much that you thought that the only way that you could redeem yourself was by steeling my boyfriend?"

Severus' head immediately snapped up and the newspaper was crumpled in his lap when he heard a loud slapping noise. He stared with furrowed brows between the three female Professors. Professor McGonagall was seated, looking quite alarmed. The very flushed Cross seemed to be paling quite quickly as remorse set in and she started muttering her apologies. Severus had hardly turned his gaze to the turned away Aurora, when suddenly she whirled around looking quite livid. "You don't apologize to someone after you slap them!" she yelled as she launched herself at Cross.

At that moment, the two Heads of House were both too shocked to react as they watched Aurora slam the still alarmed and dazed Cross into the opposite wall. Cross issued a guttural moan before shoving back Aurora, who tripped on the back of her robes and fell, bringing down Cross with her. Severus watched as the disaster continued and Aurora rolled over as she straddled Cross and punched her quite hard in the face, before Pandora tried to reach up and yank Sinistra's hair, something a little hard to do considering the tight bun that it was in. However, she did manage to get a mass full of her hair, pulling it out of the bun and pulling Aurora's head down as she yelped slightly at the pain of it and once more they rolled over.

Getting over their initial shock, Severus and Minerva exchanged glances before walking over to the rolling mass or black and navy blue robes. It was quite hard to distinguish, it it were not for the fact that one of them had strawberry blonde hair and the other had black hair. Severus reached down and grabbed one by the arms before hauling her up to her feet. It was qutie hard to do, and judging the the flailing hair, he noticed that he'd grabbed Cross. However, he didn't register this very quickly as he was having trouble holding onto her due to the fact that she was struggling still. He quickly removed one hand at a time from her arms and hugged her around her middle to be able to lift her away from Sinistra, who was being helped to her feet by the Transfiguration Professor.

Severus grimaced as he picked Cross up and turned around so that he could only see Sinistra if he looked over his shoulder. There was a nasty gash on Aurora's bottom lip and Severus guessed that when he'd picked Pandora up she had kicked the astronomy Professor in the mouth as she had been flailing her feet. They both, seeming to have calmed themselves ran hands through their tousled hair to fix it, Aurora having to set her hair lose first. "You two really should be ashamed of yourselves! I thought that letting you have it out with words for once would finally allow you to move on, but fighting like this is simply unacceptable!" McGonagall scolded as Severus let go of Cross and turned to look at McGonagall. Casting a glance at Sinistra and Cross, they were both looking down at their feet and adjusting their robes in shame; Severus was momentarily reminded of his students. "If you continue to behave like this I will have no other choice but to inform Professor Dumbledore! Now you better go to the Hospital Wing."

"I don't need it," Aurora said as she wiped the blood that was dripping from her busted lip with her sleeve. She than quickly walked out of the lounge, shoving past Pandora on her way out. McGonagall sighed heavily as she followed Aurora out. Severus turned his gaze to Pandora, whose face was covered from view by her hair. He couldn't see the damage that Aurora had inflicted and he guessed that Pandora was quite embarrassed by what happened to turn and look at him. She downcast her gaze, as if she were staring at her hands before suddenly looking up, the sound os something snapping closed ringing in his ear.

"Um, Severus, could you inform the students that the meeting today will be canceled?" Pandora asked, not turning to look at him and her voice shaking slightly.

"Of course," Severus said, as he watched Pandora's hands fall to her side, holding something small and circular that was golden. Severus raised a brow and noticed that it was one of those mirrors, the kinds that some girls had to check their make up.

"Thanks," Pandora said as she walked to the door and hurriedly exited the lounge.Severus smirked now that he was alone, thinking that was highly interesting.

TBC...

A/n: Happy Friday everyone. Hope that you all enjoyed this chapter. It was fun to write, especially the cat fight. Anyway, you all now know why Aurora hates Cross and why Cross did those things will be explained perhaps in the next chapter because Snape can't hate her; at least, not just yet.

Anyway, please review!


	67. School Girl Cross

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 67:**__** School Girl Cross**_

Informing the students that the Dueling Club was canceled due to the fact that professor Cross did not feel well seemed to arise suspicions with the students, who were all grumbling unhappily. It was something he didn't care for because it meant that he was now able to spending time with Samara. She asked him for the reason, once they were in his private quarters, and not thinking it prudent to reveal to her what happened between his colleagues, especially when what happened wasn't really his business, he merely replied that Cross was indisposed to monitor the club. Samara seemed satisfied with this, and didn't' greatly care to pursue the subject. Especially as there were other things she'd rather talk to him about.

They spent most of Saturday and Sunday evening as they spent every time that they were together. They merely sat, Samara mainly talking about everything in the world and Severus, for the most part, listening with the most apt adoration while running his fingers through her hair. That is not to say that he did not interject a sharp quip here or there, insulting someone or other that she was talking about and earning himself stiff poking by a rather thin and sharp index finger. However, he enjoyed the time that he spent with her. Though, he considered that he should tone down the insults unless he wanted to have a bruise on his chest.

The rest of the week went by rather quickly for Severus, while the entirety of the student body, except for Samara, complained that time was passing too slowly. Over the next couple of days, Severus didn't see Cross around too much, or Sinistra for that matter and it made him wonder if they were avoiding each other, or were embarrassed about what happened. By Monday, it seemed everyone at the staff table heard about the fight in the teachers lounge and they weren't too disinclined to talk about it. It was something that made Severus' meals rather hard to get through without being vexed. As a prime witness, he found his colleagues asking for details, none which he was disposed to talk about. He didn't particularly ever feel the need to gossip.

The following days followed in much the same fashion that they usually would. Severus found that his days seemed toe be blurring into one very long day as he found that he could no longer sleep. He was up at all hours of the night and when he was finally able to shut his eyes, they weren't shut for very long before he had to open them and rise from bed to teach. It was something that samara started to scold him about and he smirked every time she did, wondering how it felt for her to have the shoe on the other foot and enjoying the attention she lavished on him because of it. Not that he allowed her to see the fact that he enjoyed the way that she fussed over him, or that he enjoyed the fact that he was making her worry. But it meant something to him, to see that she really did care.

He would have preferred to be able to sleep, however, he could not. He spent much of his time, after he'd finished all his grading and trying to occupy his awake mind by reading, thinking about the upcoming break and feeling miserable. His body felt so weary, tired and fatigued, even his eyes desired to be shut, yet he could not turn off his mind. It was almost as though some fever took over his mind in he night, that would not allow him to think of anything but Samara and caused him to irrationally and terribly miss her. It did not even help to remind himself that he would see her in a short while. It made him wonder how he would ever live without her.

By the time that Saturday morning arrived, Severus was in a foul mood, due to lack asleep and that in a short week, Samara would be heading home for two weeks. The fact that all the students were excited about heading into Hogsmead did nothing to brighten his spirits, as it meant that Samara would be heading down with the village with Timothy, Nate and Ethan. However, as he was leaving breakfast, he was resolved to keep a close eye on Samara. There was simply now way in hell that he was about to leave her alone, unsupervised with three boys in Hogsmead. Especially if one of them was a nut when drunk and the other two had no backbone to stand up to him in that condition, therefore leaving Samara quite unprotected.

"Are you going into Hogsmead?" Severus turned and found himself scowling at Pandora as she walked up beside him. She wasn't too worried by the murderous look on Severus' face due to the fact that she noted that for the past week it had been permanently etched onto his features. She cracked a small, bashful smile at his and her cheeks turned a light shade of pink, clearly still embarrassed about the tussle in the teachers lounge. "You know, Severus, you are going to add many lines to your face if you continue to scowl in that manner," she said lightly as she looked at him. Severus raised a brow, but relaxed his facial features so that they were simply their usual neutral mask of indifference and lacked all emotion. Cross smiled at him in turn. "So are you going to Hogsmead?" she asked again.

"Yes," he replied simply as together they made their way down the entrance hall and out of the castle. For a moment, Severus looked over at her out of the corner of his eyes as he continued to walk and pondered whether she was going to tall him what she wanted. He turned his gaze and stared forward and watched the students and his eyes narrowed on a girl with long blue hair and furrowed his brows wondering who on earth that was. As he walked behind the small girl, whom he guessed was a second year, he turned to look at the person she was walking with and spotting the red-head, he didn't have to wonder for too long who that was. He raised a brow as he stared at the second year girl. He'd somewhat noticed that week that her facial features seemed slightly different. Subtle enough so that it wasn't too noticeable, but when you looked at her you know that something was off. He guessed that she was trying to learn how to control her image and couldn't quite get changing her features quite right yet, and had gotten a better grasp of changing her hair so far.

"Do you mind if I tag along?" she asked in a friendly way, smiling weakly. Severus nodded curtly as he walked. Well at least it wouldn't seem to strange for him to be in Hogsmead now. "About the other day… I don't want you to think ill of me," she said as they walked, trying to sound confident and pulling it off fairly well. Severus raised a brow as he cast a glance at her. He hadn't thought about the incident, or what he had discovered that day at all. The only time he thought about it was when someone brought it up, but he wasn't at all interested. As he stared at her questioningly, he wondered what did she care what he thought? But from what he heard and form what he had seen of Cross so far, he knew that she put a lot in store in what people thought about her and didn't think much of it.

"What cause would I have to think ill of you? It seemed only a natural turn of events when the argument became so heated. Granted, most people would have resorted to using their wands than to violence, though I suppose it's understandable for you to have been irrational," Severus said in his velvety voice, sounding completely bored with the subject. He didn't catch the sharp glance that Pandora gave him, nor the way her eyebrow had risen and a somewhat offended smile graced her lips.

"I hope you don't mean that I was irrational because I'm a woman and it was the reason why I slapped her instead of pulling my wand out on her. However, for now I will just ignore that statement," she said with a smile and sounding calm and forthcoming. Severus sneered at this as they walked, sure that that was not what he meant. "I actually meant, about what Sinistra said I was like as a teenager," Pandora said softly, casting her glance at the ground. Severus turned to look at her and noticed that as they crossed the snow covered grounds and made their way down to Hogsmead that she was walking at a leisurely pace. It made him wonder why, when she hated the cold. He was almost sure that she would have wanted to get into Hogsmead as soon as possible to get out of the cold in any shop they came across first. However, she didn't seem to much care about the cold at the moment.

He stared at her flushed face, unsure if it was out of embarrassment of the cold and continued to walk along side her. Today, she simply had her hair lose and down and he could see something strange about her eye. It seemed a bit green. It would have been hardly noticeable, unless you were as close as he currently was as they walked alongside each other. "I can't imagine anyone is too proud of how they were when they were teenagers, most of us grow out of it," Severus merely said, not sounding too conversational. Pandora looked over at him and smiled at him. She remembered what he was like when he was a teenager and while she knew that he was still pretty much the same, still tall, thin and pale, he had bulked up slightly. She guessed that like her, Severus had been a nerd of sorts.

"I didn't have any friends my first years at Hogwarts. When I met Aurora first year, I wanted to be her friend. She was smart, she was pretty, she was poplar, she wasn't shy with the boys and… she was just everything that I wasn't and wanted to be. I actually admired her, and I wanted to be just like her," Pandora said as they walked. Severus turned to look at her and furrowed his brows as he watched her closely. Her bright blue eyes held a tint of nostalgia and there was a bittersweet smile on her face. Severus found himself quite curious now. If Pandora had admired Aurora, what had changed? "I'm sorry, I must be boring you," she said, shaking her head and looking at him with a small smile, seeming breathless. Severus turned away from has as they made their way into the village.

"Actually, I'm quite curious to know what changed that," Severus said as he continued to stare forward.

"Well I was invisible to her. The first few weeks in my first year, I tried to get her attention, but nothing seemed to work. My grades had been suffering and … I finally gave up and turned my attention to my studies. I knew Aurora always had the highest grades in all the classes and once I applied myself, my work was just as good and finally… she noticed me," Pandora said as she looked forward. "She even complimented me one day when I got a charm on the fist try," Pandora said. "I felt a hope that we could be friends, but that was just foolish of me. Her friends were particularly cruel to me and she didn't stick up for me. I suppose I understand, I was really nothing to her. However, I didn't think that it was particularly human of her to see her friends torment me and do nothing about it. I thought it made her quite a sorry excuse of a human not to be sympathetic."

Severus found as he listened that there were slight similarities between them as teenagers. They were both outsiders, outcast for their appearances and dedicating to their work; picked on because of it. And as much as he loathed remembering it, Severus did require the approval of his peers. It was the reason that he always followed the trend in Slytherin and played up to his pureblood side. "Though, I think that I begin to understand the Slytherin way of life, everyone for themselves, right?" she said as, snapping him out of his thought as she looked at him with a smile. Severus merely nodded at this.

"It builds character to stand on your own," Severus said a little bitterly, thinking about all the times that he stood up against Potter and his entourage. He'd never wanted anyone's help, he wasn't a coward and he didn't need it. Though, Potter and Black never did attack him when he was around Mulciber or Avery. Severus clenched his teeth and ground them together to think of the things that they pulled on him and remembered the way that Lily had in the end chosen James. There was a time he was resentful about it, when he turned to the Death Eaters and did many things that he was not proud of. But he'd always loved her and that would never have changed. Even now, he still loved Lily and it still hurt to think about her and he missed her. His heart tinged slightly for her, but it was nowhere near as intense as it once was.

Pandora turned to look over at Severus and upon seeing the very dark look that had replaced his neutral mask, distinctly remembered that James Potter, whom she would have never remembered if his son had not defeated the Dark Lord, and his friends picked on Severus and guessed that he was recalling that. "Well, I wasn't strong like you," Pandora said as she looked at Severus. Severus snapped out of his unhappy thoughts and looked over at her. "I became angry and… I dedicated all my time to being better than Sinistra in her classes. For the first couple years it was nothing more than a little bit of rivalry, but everything changed after our fifth year."

"Would that be why I had no recollection of you, you changed after I graduated?" Severus said, suddenly recalling how he didn't remember her at all and how Sinistra mentioned that she had changed her appearance after their fifth year. Pandora cast a glanced over at him and nodded at this, supposing that it had to be true.

"Aurora started to date a boy, from Hufflepuff, his name was Aaron Jones. I'd always fancied him, since we were first years, but he never noticed me," Pandora said, sounding a bit embarrassed as they made their way down the main street. They hardly paid any attention at all to all the students that were milling about and Severus found that his mind was quite concentrated on what she was telling him. "Everyone knew that I liked him, at least all of Aurora's friends knew because they always teased me about it. I thought that Aurora started to date him just to hurt me and I went home so… depressed about it and my mum, seeing how miserable I was gave me a bit of a makeover.

"I think that she desired to change my appearance for year, but she hadn't ever seen me unhappy and not wanting to destroy my confidence never said anything," Pandora said pensively as she thought about it. "I changed a lot that summer. All the anger and hate just boiled and festered inside me. I started to go out and practiced social skills with anyone I came across and when I got back to Hogwarts, no one recognized me and it wasn't just the outside that had changed. I'm not sure how to explain what happened, how I changed so much… I hope I'm not confusing you," she said as she looked over at him.

"No, you're not," he said, feeling like he understood. The summer after his fifth year was hell, because Lily was no longer his friend. However, he two had gone through a sort of metamorphosis. He felt like he was starting to grow into his height. He didn't feel as awkward inside his own skin as much as he remembered. He supposed that gave him more confidence, and the resentment and hate inside of him drove him to do many very stupid things under the influence of his _friends._ His control over his magic and realized that he was more powerful than people gave him credit for. He supposed that he sort of came into his own. No longer was he the one that was following around behind Avery and Mulciber, but he became more of the leader. People in Slytherin learned to respect him, where before they had either ignored him or sneered at him.

"Well, Aurora's friends quickly turned into mine as well. We became part of the same social circle, though it was quite clear that we hated each other. But I suppose the difference between girls and boys is that boys are more open about their hate to each other, while girls hide it between smiles and sweetness and as soon as the other's back is turned you tear each other down," Pandora said, sound partially amused and disgusted at the same time. Severus merely nodded at this, knowing that girls could be quite vicious. "All of a sudden, all the boys were looking at me and they no longer looked at her. All of a sudden her friends valued me as a leader just as much as they did her. We were both Prefects by that time and always competing in classes for the highest marks," Pandora said as she continued her tale. "We did childish, and mean things to each other and I did the worst. However, it wasn't done out of the intention to hurt her."

Severus looked over at her, wondering whether he believed that or not. "You probably don't believe that, but I didn't do it to hurt her. Aaron and I became friends when I was a sixth year, it made Sinistra very jealous and I suppose she never said anything until our seventh year when she couldn't control her jealousy anymore and they were having problems," Pandora said as they came to a stop and she looked down. Severus turned to look at her and stared at her, his brows furrowed. "I was in love with Aaron and I'm willing to admit that I shouldn't have been around him knowing that I loved him and he was taken. But I couldn't help it and I truly had no idea that he was engaged and I knew when he kissed me that we were doing was a mistake, but before I could get over the shock, Sinistra walked into the room and she saw us."

Severus stared deep into her eyes and the memory of what she spoke immediately came up. He could see that Pandora, who did not look at all changed, and Aaron, who was a tall thin blonde boy with blue eyes like Pandora's were standing in front of each other, laughing and talking in what appeared to be an empty classroom. By the looks of it, because they both had their bags it was just after class. Pandora play shoved him and the boy, who was quite handsome smiled at her brilliantly and grabber he hard, playfully tugging on her and making her fall onto his lips. He watched as Pandora's eyes seemed to bulge out of their sockets and the way her face immediately flushed. However, she did seem to respond a little bit before Aurora walked into the classroom and caught them. Aurora too looked the same now as when she was a teenager, except for the fact that she'd aged a bit and now always wore her hair tied up. Apparently, judging by the black hair that cascaded down her back, she did not back then. Neither did she behave as she would now; while Severus expected her to explode in her anger and unleash her fury, instead she whirled around and ran away, Aaron bolting after her, obviously repenting what he had done.

Shaking his head, Severus stared at Pandora. He felt quite sorry for Aurora. However, Severus knew that if he had a chance to kiss lily when he was a teenager, he would have taken an advantage of it, even if she had been dating Potter. He supposed that Pandora allowed love to control her and lead her astray as it often seemed to do. "We call commit mistakes. Yours seemed minor in the grand scheme of things," Severus said, turning around so that they continued to walk. He didn't like how the students nearby were starting to look over at them. "I suggest we get out of the streets," Severus said as he walked. Pandora smiled in satisfaction and she hurried to walk alongside him, apparently glad that he understood and taking this as a invitation to join him wherever he was going. Both so lost in their thoughts, they didn't notice the small gang of Sltytherins standing outside Honeydukes, nor the confused hazel eyes that watched them wearily as they passed.

**TBC…**

**A/n:** I hope that you all like this chapter and understand Cross a little better now. I promise Samara will be in the next chapter and that I will try to update soon. Please leave me a review!


	68. I Should Go

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 68:**__** I Should Go**_

Severus gazed over at Samara and narrowed his eyes on her. It was the last evening they would be able to spend together before she went home for the holidays the following morning and she was behaving strangely. All week, she seemed rather dampened and distracted. She did try to smile, whenever someone caught her and probably questioned her about what was wrong with her, however, the smile never reached her eyes. Her eyes were always clouded in thought and though Severus was very tempted to use Legilimency on her to find out what was wrong, because every time he asked she would lie to him and say that she was fine, he couldn't bring himself to do it. It just didn't feel right to invade her mind like that, even if she didn't know any better. It felt too much like rape. Or what rape would be like if it happened to the mind.

While he had no qualms about doing it to other unsuspecting victims, mainly due to the fact he hardly had to use it to find out when a student was lying, using it on Samara was something different. If she felt that she couldn't tell him, he felt that he should respect her privacy. After all, just because you were in a relationship with someone did not mean that you had no right to your privacy anymore, and of course he wanted to know everything, but he didn't want her to feel like she was suffocating in this relationship.

"Is there a reason that you are doing your Defense Against Dark Arts homework tonight?" he asked as he sighed in exasperation while looking over at her. She was sitting Indian style on her couch with the book on her lap. While her expression was very concentrated, Severus knew that she was NOT reading that book because her eyes had been staring at the same page for the last five minutes, not moving at all. Clearly, her mind was elsewhere and Severus knew that something was troubling her lately because she was so quiet and pensive around him lately.

It seemed to take a few moments for Samara's brain to register the fact that someone had spoken to her, as she was so wrapped up in her own thoughts. Blinking a few times at her confusion, she slowly looked over at looked at Severus with a questioning gaze, her face covered in confusion as her deeply furrowed brows remained thus. "I'm sorry Severus, I didn't catch that," she said as she looked at him, her eyes still wrapped in her thoughts.

His vexation only seemed to increase at this. He wanted to rise and tell her, if she was so busy that perhaps he should see her after the break and live in a huff of anger. However, he didn't want to miss a minute of seeing Samara and knew that he would be angry with himself for the following two weeks if he thought about the fact that he left her the last night they were together just because he couldn't control his anger. Taking in a deep breath, Severus forced himself to push away all the emotions that he felt and try to calm himself as he looked over at her. "Samara, what is troubling you? For the past week you've been very distracted," he said slowly, sounding calm, though he was sure he did not sound very inviting. "And don't lie to me and say everything is fine."

Samara looked away from his gaze, knowing very well that he somehow had a very good and innate ability to know when someone was lying. However, she was slightly embarrassed about what was troubling her and couldn't bring herself to say it. She couldn't bring herself to tell him that she was jealous and pondering whether all the jokes that Nate and the rest of her friends made about the relationship between Severus and Cross had any truth to them. After all, he had been staring at her quite intensely, and he never told her why they were together in Hogsmead in the first place. And after what Professor Sinistra had said to her about Cross, and the reason why her lip was busted and the reason why the Dueling Club meet was canceled made her feel even more worried. However, she couldn't tell Severus all this. She knew that she really shouldn't be as bothered about this as she was, not if she really trusted him. And no matter how superior Cross' looks where to her, Severus loved her, not Cross. But no matter how many times she'd told herself these things over the past week, she still could not get them to leave her alone.

"Nothing Severus," Samara said as she looked up at him, and could see by the skeptical way he was glaring at her that he did not believe her. She smiled faintly at him and quickly thought of something plausible to say to him, about why she was so distracted lately. "I'm just worried about my mum and how this break will go. Not to mention missing you," she smiled as she closed the book in her lap and placing it on the table before her before scooting up so that she was close to him. Severus stared into her eyes, knowing that there had to be more to it than that, but seeing as how Samara seemed willing to push it away for the moment, Severus pushed it all away as well as he draped his arm around her thin shoulder and sighed.

Burying his face in her hair, which like always smelled deliciously of pomegranates, Severus allowed himself to relax. His muscles relaxing as he pulled Samara closer to him so that her body was pressed against his and she leaned her head against his shoulder. Severus secretly smiled into the lose tresses of her black hair, pressing her face into its softness and feeling the silky strands tickle the side of his face. He felt a bit of a tug at his heart to know that he wouldn't be able to enjoy her very much longer as he had only been able to escape his duties fifteen minutes ago when the clock struck nine and he was sure that he wouldn't be able to stay much longer.

For a while, they both sat in silence enjoying the feel of each other, each other's smells and calming presence as their hearts hammered at the thought that soon they would be separated and while they knew that they would only be away from each other two weeks, both felt an overwhelming amount of insecurity. Two weeks could change a lot. At that moment, they both looked at each other, their eyes both shining the same as they stared into each other's eyes. Both their faces quite serene as they studied each other, drinking in with their eyes every feature so as to not forget it, though it was impossible.

"Sevy," Samara said tentatively as she downcast her gaze. Severus furrowed his brow was he stared at Samara. "Is there anything about me that you would change, given the opportunity?" Samara asked as she lifted her gaze and looked him straight in the eyes, trying to see if there was sincerity in his reply or reaction. He gave her a queer look for a moment, before giving her a small smirk.

"Of course," he replied, staring down at her. For a moment Samara's eyes widened and her mouth parted slightly, as though in shock and she wanted to say something that she could not think of. "You are too impulsive Samara," he said, teasing her lightly with his eyes. However, Samara didn't see it as she downcast her gaze for a moment. Severus furrowed his brow deeper, wondering why she had asked such a thing and wondering why she asked. Did she need some type of reassurance? He did not understand why she would. In fact, on the contrary, he felt that he should be the one to be reassured. grabbing her chin lightly, he tilted her head so as to look into her eyes. "Samara," he said, causing her to turn her gaze to meet his. his brows were furrowed in deep confusion, and his eyes held hers with more intensity than she had seen when he was staring at Cross, for they were full with emotion. "I wouldn't change anything about you, even if it would make my existence a little easier," he said as he looked at her.

Samara bit down on her lower lip, trying not to get her hopes up as she stared into his eyes. However, she couldn't deny the fact that her heart was hammering in her chest quite painfully and that there were jitters in her stomach. "You sure you wouldn't change anything at all?" she asked as she looked into his eyes. Severus raised a brow at this as he pulled Samara into his lap and held her around the waist, she wasn't particularly heavy, but he enjoyed the weight of her body on him. Samara blushed a light shade of pink as she stared into his eyes, feeling embarrassed at showing him such a vulnerability and feeling quite annoyed with herself.

"Why would I want to change anything about you?" Severus asked as he stared into her eyes. "You are more than I deserve," he said as he gently grabbed her chin and placed a soft, tentative kiss on her lips. The color in Samara face rose, feeling the temperature in the room rise at the light kisses that he was placing on her lips. She found herself happy that she had discarded her school robes much earlier and was just in the uniform of a skirt and white button up shirt. Upon arriving she'd taken off her robes and tie and draped them on her bed. Severus had frowned that she was sitting Indian style while wearing a skirt, but it seemed to him that Samara had never put too much store into that type of thing. He guessed it was due to her innocence, very much the same way little girls don't care when they are wearing skirts or dresses if they get hiked up while they are playing.

"You deserve more than you allow yourself," Samara smiled as she looked down into his eyes, her eyes sparkling in a way that made a shiver of pleasure to run through him before she leaned in and placed a slow and sensual kiss on his mouth. Severus hands tightened slightly on her waist as his heart started to race. He really should have pulled away, but to feel her soft lips pressing against his in a featherlight way, teasing him with the fleeting of caresses made him want more.

When Samara felt his hands tighten around her waist, Samara ran her fingers into his hair and pulled him into a tighter kiss. Their lips pressed tighter together, causing their faces to heat up with the friction caused by their kiss, as they moved their mouths against each other. Steadily, their kiss became something more and more hungry, neither one of them knowing why all the wanted was to taste and feel. As Samara slipped her tongue inside his mouth and Severus issued a guttural moan, without being able to contain himself, Samara repositioned herself so that she was more comfortable.

Severus hands moved from Samara's waist to her hips and tugged her hips forward, bringing her body so that it was pressed against his more tightly before running his hands down her legs, his brain hardly registering the material of his skirt. By now, their battling tongues had turned his whole brain into mush and there wasn't a single coherent thought running through his mind. It was blissfully blank, only registering the feel of her lips, the heat of his skin, and the softness of her leg.

Having one of her legs on either side of him, Severus had run his hands down and passing the hem of her skirt could feel the softness of the skin on her legs, just above her knees. Desire flooded through every inch of his body, to feel just how soft her skin was as he traced his fingers along in a father-light touch. A touch so light that it caused Samara to shiver and goosebumps to raise along her body, wanting to meet up with his touch. It was an effect that Severus was deeply pleased by and made him curious to how she would react to other sensations.

Slowly, he slipped his hand beneath the hem of her skirt and in the same manner, ran it over her thigh. His hand stopped quite several inches away from her pelvis and he stretched his fingers before before trailing his hand back down towards her knee. His thumbs ran along the insides of he thighs as he had stretched his fingers and caused Samara to thrust her hips forward and whimper. It was as sound that Severus thoroughly enjoyed as he pulled his head away from their heated kiss and trailed kisses down the side of her face, along her jawline and down to her neck.

He was very aware of the way that her hands tightened and gripped onto the tresses of his hair as he ran the tip of his tongue along her skin, applying just enough pleasure on her neck so that she spasmed a little in pleasure. "That's not fair," Samara whimpered as he kissed her neck and gently sucked at the tender flesh of her neck. Severus smiled, tracing wet kisses up her neck until his mouth was positioned just beneath her earlobe.

"Life is never fair," Severus said in a low baritone, causing her to shiver once more. Severus didn't know if it was just the sound of his voice that caused her to shiver, or if it was the fact that his hot breath had caressed her skin, but as he lightly nipped at her earlobe, he thought that it was a mixture of both.

Samara through her head back, and stared at Severus who had now furrowed his brow, clearly unpleased that she had pulled her neck away from him. "Than perhaps I should get even," Samara said as she leaned in to place a kiss on his mouth once more. Severus raised a brow at this, as he allowed her to take over the kiss. Her tongue teasing his with small flicks ever so often, before he suddenly felt her begin to rock her hips. Severus eyes widened as he felt desire overwhelm him as she rubbed her pelvis against his, thoroughly awaking a part of his body. Her hands entangled in his hair made it impossible to pull away from her and his face flushed in embarrassment, for he was quite sure she must feel him pressing against her.

With his eyes rolling into the back of his head at the ecstasy of her rubbing against him, Severus found himself completely lost in the sensations that Samara could cause by rolling her hips just the right way, or a correct flick of the tongue. His hands gripped her thighs as she moved and he could not contain his moans. However, his brain caught up with him in the realization that if Samara continued in earnest, he would be in a much... stickier situations than he wanted to be in. Therefore, Severus gathered as much of what was left of his self-control and tried to regain some will power as he regretfully removed his hands from Samara's legs and grabbed Samara by the shoulders, before gently pulling her away. The confusion this caused in Samara made her stop her movements and stare at him in a slightly perplexed and irked manner.

"Behave, Samara," Severus said as he looked into her hazel eyes that were staring at him inquisitively, wondering why he had forced her to stop.Upon hearing him she smiled at him in a way that he'd never really seen before and made his resolve wane slightly. It was a seductive smile that was small and quite charming,while her eyes twinkled mischievously.

"Why Severus? You seem to be enjoying my misbehavior," she said, her voice sounding huskier than he'd ever heard her, the tone teasing him as she rocked her hips. Severus was now painfully aware that he had enjoyed her... misbehaving, as she put it, and that she was quite aware of it herself. Feeling a little uncomfortable, Severus averted his gaze and forced himself not to blush as he pushed Samara's pelvis away from his upright ... member, whom she was delighting quite easily and thoroughly enough, considering they were supposed to be taking things slow.

"We agreed to take things slow," he said sternly as he looked into her gaze. Samara sighed in vexation as he head drooped down onto his chest.Severus furrowed a brow at this and wondered what that was about. He stared at her for a moment, wondering if she was sexually frustrated. A bubble of hilarity rose in his throat at the absurd thought. Samara couldn't possibly want him, could she. Well she had the previous year, but she was pregnant at the time and quite hormonal. However, why else would she be irritated? It couldn't be possible that Samara wanted him as much as he wanted her, could it? "Samara, are you sexually frustrated?" he asked, trying to keep amusement out of his tone.

"Yes!" she replied immediately, her tone laced with exasperation and frustration. She then raised her head, her eyes widened in horror and blushing quite profusely in embarrassment at her hasty reply. "Not that I'm... I'm not... I didn't mean," Samara stopped and forced herself to shut up as she stared into his eyes, clearly trying to gather he thoughts so she wasn't blubbering like an idiot. Severus waited patiently as he stared into her eyes, his alight with amusement and curiosity as he stared at her intensely. "I don't want you to think bad of me, I'm not a hormonal teenager who just wants to have sex, but this has never happened to me before. I never loved someone as much as you and before I never felt ready for it. But I am and... I want you," she said, finishing off with a sheepish smile.

Severus stared at her and he felt the little self-control he'd managed to gather up was slipping away. "I really should go," Severus said as he stared into her eyes. Samara furrowed her brows as she looked at him.

"Please don't, I promise I'll behave," she said as she looked at him, cracking a small smile. Severus shook his head as he gently pried her hands from the back of his head and took her by the waist and seated her next to him. Steadily, he rose off the couch and turned to look at her.

"You give me far too much credit in thinking I will, my will is not that strong," he said calmly as he stared down into her eyes. He then bent over and placed a kiss on her forehead, which was upturned as she stared up at him in mild confusion, her eyes filled with sadness. "I will come by to see you early in the morning," he promised, before leaning in and placing another kiss on her lips. Samara sighed, trying to contend herself with this as she looked up at him and nodded. He nodded in return before turning on his heel and marching out of the room. He needed to get out before he did something he regretted. He had an odd feeling that he was going to mess things up and decided it was for the best that he left now.

**TBC…**

**A/n: **Sorry about taking so long to post this, I have just been feeling kind of down and this chapter... the feeling of it was just not in sync with me and hard to get in the mood to write for. Anyway, I hope that you all enjoyed this. I should be more in sync with the next chapter and it shouldn't take half as long. So I'll try to update soon. Please leave a review!**  
**


	69. Christmas Beheading

**WARNING: **I'm not exactly sure this chapter is rated teen, but I've tried to be as vague as possible to keep it rated Teen. Anyway, just thought it would be a good idea to warn you first.

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 69: Christmas Beheading**_

Seeing as the days leading up to Christmas were quite depressing without Samara, he now found himself at the mildly depressing Christmas Eve staff party mildly depressing. None too sober either as he'd already last track of the amount of Firewhiskys that he had taken, his eye-sight was mildly bleary and the heavy weight that had set in his chest since the morning he went to see Samara off was for the moment cast off. Despite the fact that he was slightly, or more than slightly, sloshed… he found that he was completely a mess and wasn't as depressed as he should be. It was the reason that he continued to down the drinks while brooding silently in his corner and watching the rest of the staff members.

He found it all too clear that McGonagall had a little too much to drink as they were laughing while trying to get through some carol or other, both of their cheeks very rosy. Severus would have sneered at this, had there not been a more interesting display to watch as Professor Flitwick and Cross were currently having trouble standing, yet still trying to dance. As for Professor Sprout and Madam Pomfrey, perhaps the most sober person in the room, were having a heated argument about something in their teenage years while Hooch was egging them on. The only Professor, who were currently at the castle and not joining them were Trelawney and Pince, Pince far too uptight to show up and Trelawney hardly ever left her tower, much to the content of her colleagues.

Severus turned his gaze over toward Cross who was wearing forest-green robes with a white and green elf hat on her head. Her cheeks were a rosy color and the tendrils of her strawberry curls were held back in a half ponytail, cascading past her thin shoulders to the small of her back. When Severus had at first realized that Pandora was still at the castle, only a few days before tonight, he had been very curious to know why she had remained at the castle and wondering whether or not she had any family to go home and visit. However, as curious as he was, he had not bothered to ask as he was never really one to delve into his colleagues personal lives. He understood perfectly if they wanted to separate their work and home life.

Turning his gaze away from Cross, he downed yet another cup of Firewhisky and for a moment stare at the empty contents of his glass. He groaned slightly to himself as he stood up and made his way towards the table for yet another drink and wished he had just taken the whole bottle with him. "Festive evening, don't you think Severus," Severus merely grumbled in response to Dumbledore, who had been humming to himself before Severus had waltzed up to get yet another drink. He didn't understand why the Headmaster had chosen to seat himself right at the table where the drinks were at. He guessed that the old man probably just wanted to monitor just how much his staff was drinking. Severus eyes the man in scarlet robes, who much resembled father Christmas, especially at the current moment. He wondered that he hadn't drunk too much if the Headmaster was still allowing himself to drink more. However, on the other hand, he supposed that Dumbledore might just be a little drunk as well, giving his rosy cheeks.

Serving himself yet another glass, Severus chugged it down like it was water before serving himself another and walking out into the hall. He needed to get away from all the noise and as he waltzed down the corridors with a glass in his hand, he supposed he wasn't too sober. Had he been sober at all, he wouldn't have ever walked around the castle in his present state with a glass of liquor in his hands. However, as he was more than just a little tipsy, he didn't presently care and continued to make his way through the halls, not at all caring if a student happened to see him. After all, Severus knew how to be a pretty damn good drunk. He was sure that no one would suspect him, given that his walking gate was very much the same as it usually was and that his demeanor had not changed at all.

"Severus, where are you going? The party is in there?" he heard someone call out as they came up to his side. Severus cast a glance at the person who had just clasped onto his arm, causing him to spill some of his drink on the floor. Normally, he would have been greatly vexed; however, given the state of Pandora, he couldn't really blame her for grasping onto him. The woman, who still managed to look quite attractive despite being drunk, could hardly keep her feet. Staring down at her complacent smile, rosy cheeks, sparkling blue eyes and the slightly askew hat sitting on the top her soft curly hair, Severus had the great urge to smile.

Deciding to turn away instead, Severus continued his walk, all too aware of the added weight to every step as Pandora continued to cling to him and walk with him. It was something that would have deeply bothered Severus on a normal occasion, but at the moment he really couldn't care about anything at all. His mind was pleasantly blank for the first time in days. He wasn't thinking about anything at all and he liked that. There were very few times that his mind would ever shut off so completely like this and leave him in an almost blissful state of mind. Either he had to be completely smashed or in the presence of someone who couldn't quite recall due to the spinning of his head. He needed to sit down.

"I'd rather not be there," Severus said as he made his way to the closest staircase, which happened to head up to the first floor. Severus held onto the rail as he trudged up the stairs. His study was much close to where he was standing at the moment than his office and decided that heading upstairs, while more difficult, would still get him somewhere to sit much faster than if he made his way through the halls and headed down towards the dungeons. However, he found it exceedingly difficult to make his way up the stairs with Pandora's precarious swaying sending his sense of balance out of whack. Becoming a little irritated, he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her body closer to his a little gruffly, so that she had little room to move and therefore little opportunity to wreak havoc on his sense of balance and send them toppling over. "Why did you leave Professor Flitwick dancing alone?" Severus asked as they reached the landing and started to make their way down the hall. He removed his arm from around her and allowed her to clasp onto his arm once more.

"He sent me to … re… re… to get you," she replied, unable to manage the word retrieve as she walked alongside him. She'd felt the heat rise all over her skin when he'd placed his arm around her waist and while she was slightly disappointed that he had removed it, she tried not to put too much mind in it as she walked alongside him towards his study and walked in with him, closing the door behind herself witch a light kick. She didn't manage to pull it off very gracefully as she stumbled closer into his and doubled over laughing.

"You're a hazard to yourself on your feet," Severus said with a smirk before leading his inebriated colleague towards the couch and helping her sit down. She was still doubled over laughing, so hard to hold her waist and lead her there in a very strange manor. When he managed to get her seated, he made his way over to his desk and pulled out a bottle of Firewhisky from his drawer and walked over to where she was seated, pouring her a glass and himself one, though his better judgment, if he'd had it at the present moment, would have told him that they both had far more than enough already."Why didn't you go home for the holidays?" he asked as he sat down next to her and handed her the drink.

"My parents divorced when I was," Pandora stopped for a moment, screwing up her face in thought. "Umm… can't member, but its better not to go to either one of them over the holidays, because of I pick one, than the other will be upset," she replied with a shrug of her thing shoulders as she eyed him for a moment. "You?" she asked as he reclined back and closed his eyes, slouching down on the couch. It made Pandora smile to see him so relaxed when he was such a stiff and stern man almost constantly.

"I don't have anyone," he replied. Pandora frowned slightly before she smiled; taking this to mean that he was not married.

"Don't be so dreary Severus! It'll be Christmas in…" she turned and looked towards the closest watch, one that happened to be placed on the mantle on the fireplace before them. "Five minutes. Tell, what is the thing that you most want this Christmas," she said brightly, kneeling down net to him, curling her feet beneath her and turning her body to face him.

Severus kept his eyes close and didn't turn to look at the witch that was sitting next to him. He felt very drowsy as the liquor and soft couch beneath him were starting to work together and attack his consciousness. Given the fact that he hadn't had much sleep the past several nights, that his mind was fuzzy, and that all his muscles felt much more relaxed then they had the past several days, he really couldn't blame himself for feeling so sleepy. However, he was vaguely aware of the fact that Pandora had asked him a question and something nagged at the back of his brain. "I don't want a thing," he said. "You?"

Pandora didn't find his word choice very strange, as she looked at him. "If I tell you, will you promise not to laugh," she asked as she looked at him. He merely smirked and nodded for her to continue with a lazy wave of his hand. She supposed that this was his encouragement for her to continue and in a way his word that he would not laugh, not that she had ever heard of the infamous Professor Severus Snape laughing. Pandora sighed as she looked at him and smiled as she stared at him. "You." Due to his befuddled mind, Severus didn't even begin to comprehend her reply, as he'd already forgotten the question. However, he didn't worry himself too much about this.

"Fascinating," he said in reply, trying to sound in the least bit interesting and hoping that she would not know that he had no idea what she was talking about, The haze in his mind was becoming much thicker than before, muggier. He was unaware of what Cross was saying to him, or that he was even in the room with her anymore. Reality seemed to be slipping away and he found himself nodding to a mumble that penetrated his clouded mind. The dreams of many sleep deprived nights seemed to be catching up with him and he found himself sitting back in Samara's couch. He knew it was a dream, for he felt Samara's small hand on his thigh and instead of pulling it away in trepidation, he allowed it, rejoicing in the feel that this small thing brought up in him.

Groaning, he found himself arching slightly into Samara's touch as her hand continued to move north, over his arisen member and to his zipper. He knew that he was dreaming and that it was wrong, however as she pulled the zipper down he didn't care as it was just a dream and no harm would come from it. Besides, he couldn't control his dreams anymore than he could control Samara, who at the moment was unbuttoning his pants and helping out a certain organ. Her hand on him was pure ecstasy and as he stared into her pretty face, his eyes only managed to widen for a moment in realization before rolling into the back of his head at what she did next.

His pleasure only mounted with the passing moments, his mind becoming jelly as his body tensed up with the mounting tension her mouth could create. Gripping the sides of his couch, Severus found himself thinking that this was the best dream that he'd ever had. It felt far more real than any other dream that he'd ever had of this nature. However, at the back of his mind, something was really starting to nag him now as he thought about the rare few times he had sexual dream of Samara and how it usually caused him to rise with painful embarrassment and usually required a very cold shower afterwards.

Making this connection, his mind suddenly started to realize that he was not sleeping in his bed and trying to think of where he was just before he had fallen asleep. He shook his head and slowly opened his eyes, and hardly able to open them because of the waves of pleasure surging through him, he looked down to see strawberry red-head in his lap. His eyes widened slightly before rolling into the back of his head once more. He gripped the head of hair in one of his hands, with the intention of yanking her away, however, his will was completely dissolving as she moaned around him and instead he found himself pushing her down as he shut his eyes tight.

It wasn't much longer before his body shuddered and he felt himself release. For a single second, he felt all the pleasure that the world could possibly provide, but as he came down from that high he felt himself sobering quite quickly and like his world was suddenly crashing down on him. Immediately standing up, nearly flying off behind the couch, he hastily righted himself as he stared at Cross in horror before hauling tail out of there and racing down the stairs and out of the castle. He had no idea where he was going, but he was sure at hell not going to be in the castle, not now when he needed to contemplate exactly what he had done and just what he was going to do about it.

---

Severus knocked lightly on the door before him. He knew perhaps that this wasn't the best idea in the world and that he was behaving far too hastily, however he didn't care about that. He knew it was rather stupid to tell Samara what had happened tonight, he knew that he was running his whole relationship, but he couldn't bear to lie to her about this. He was already unworthy of her as it was and this, this was just simply deplorable of him and the guilt of it would simply eat away at him.

Considering the fact that it was about 12:30, he knew that she was likely to be asleep. However, as he stood there, pulling his courage together and pushing away all his fears, he was surprised when the door was opened and he found himself staring at the overly, pleasantly surprised look on Samara's face as she stared at him. However, before he could think to say anything, he stared at the bundle tiny bundle of blankets that Samara was holding.

Samara placed a finger to her smiling lips as she looked at him and motioned for him to come inside, something he would have objected to as he did not know where her mother was, however judging by the silence inside he guessed that she was asleep. Stepping inside the living room, he realized that all the lights in the house were turned off and that the only light source in the room was the television which was turned on. However, he couldn't really hear any sound from it and guessed that the volume was turned down very low. He didn't bother to allow the screen and what was playing on it to register in his mind. All he knew was that it was some Christmas film or other.

"What are you doing here?" Samara whispered softly as she looked up at him after closing the door. Severus followed behind her as she walked over to the couch, where he could see her Ducky blanket where she had clearly been sitting previously. He watched her as she sat down with one leg tucked beneath her and she lay the baby down on the couch. There were small pillows on the edge of the couch, to keep the baby from rolling over and falling off, though Severus doubted that the child could roll over at all.

Staring intently at the tiny little baby, he furrowed his brow as he stared at it. Given that the baby was still young, it looked like every other baby to him, however, he had a feeling that it was much too small, given the fact that it was probably about a month old already. "Why is she so small?" Severus asked as he stared at the baby with a brow furrowed in concern. Samara turned her face from looking at Severus, her happiness momentarily eclipsed by her concern for her baby sister.

"Evelyn isn't very healthy," she replied, causing Severus to turn and look at her, the look of concern tugging at his heart. "My mum's breast milk isn't very strong because of how tired she is and it isn't properly helping Evelyn as it's supposed to. My mum is getting over a cold, she's sleeping it off right now, and Evelyn has had a fever for the past couple of days, but I've managed to bring it down," Samara said, flashing him a very small smile as she looked at him. Severus nodded at this as he downcast his gaze, wondering how on earth he would be able to tell her what had happened tonight when she was so filled with worry already. He didn't really have the heart to add anymore to her despair. "What's wrong Sevy?" Samara asked, noting that there was something wrong with him. He looked very grim and unhappy, not something that she was too used to seeing; At least, not when he was around her.

Severus looked up and stared into Samara's eyes and downcast his gaze to stare into her lap. He noted immediately that was wearing white pajama bottoms with red polka dots and that she was wearing a long sleeved, red shirt with a green Christmas tree on it. He internally smiled at this as he looked down at the floor, feeling his heart breaking. "There is something that I have to tell you, though it goes against my better judgment," he said calmly and softly as he looked up at her, putting on his neutral mask, but not really knowing how he managed it. Samara seemed to ease slightly to see the mask, causing his heart to break more.

"What is it?" she asked as she looked at him. Severus looked up into her wide and innocent eyes, staring at him curiously and with so much trust. He felt all his insides churning in disgust at what he did, all of his organ seemingly shriveling up painfully before breaking off and turning into ash inside of him, making him feel like the most unclean pile of dirt that anyone could possibly step on. He felt like he could throw up, feeling very much like he did when he realized what he was doing with the dark lord and unable to believe that something so small as telling the truth could make him feel that low.

Opening his mouth to reply, he found it incredibly dry and realized that he had not idea how he was even supposed to tell her. Turning away from her, Severus pinched the bridge of his nose, thinking what he could possible say to her. He wondered if he should just go out and say it, if he should try to explain himself. However, as he thought about it, he realized that nothing he could say could really make this any better and that no matter what his excuses were, that nothing would be able to make up for the fact that he hadn't put a stop to it when he'd realized it. He'd allowed it to go on until he'd been fully satisfied, knowing full well who was doing it to him and knowing in some part of his mind that he was in a relationship with the love of his life.

Sighing loudly, he turned back around to see that Samara was staring at him with a look of worry steadily coming over her face once more, but waiting patiently for him to continue. "Nothing I can say will excuse what I have done, so I will not make any excuses. But know that I am very sorry for it," Severus said as he looked at her, feeling his eyes burn as he watched her expression becoming more and more grim. Not wanting to put her through more anxiety than he already was, he decided that he should just get it over with. "Professor Cross and I were inebriated early this evening and she… performed oral sex on me," he said as he stared at her, having been at a loss for words for what to call what they had done and ended up saying that because it sounded the least sleazy thing. Though he still deplored saying it and had to say it through gritted teeth.

"You what?" Samara asked very sharply and somewhat loudly as all the color faded from her face. Severus grimaced, not wanting to have to repeat it and was mercifully saved when the baby started to cry, clearly startled by Samara's raised voice. Samara sighed as she turned her burning gaze away from him and turned her full attention to the baby, allowing what he had just said to completely slip out of her mind. Picking up the wailing child in her arms and rocking the baby softly she stood up. "Wait here," she said as she shoved past Severus and made her way out of the room and down the hall.

With his heart thundering in his chest, Severus ran his hands through his hair as he stood in the eerily quiet house. He turned around and watched Samara, and the baby whose wailing was starting to stop as she made her way to the first door in the hallway and disappeared beyond it, closing the door partially. Severus sighed as he made his way over to the couch and plopped down, placing his head in his hands. He'd certainly made this Christmas a disaster and he found himself wondering what Samara was going to do to him. He knew her well enough to know that while she might be hurt, she was far more likely to be angry. And having seen the intense fire that had jumped into her eyes, he was fairly sure that he was now likely to have his head chopped off. Not that he deserved anything less.

Trying to steady his heart, Severus closed his eyes and focused on nothing but hearing the sounds of the sleeping family home. He could hear creaks every now and then as the baby's wails slowly stopped and became nothing more. He almost thought that he was slipping into sleep once more when he heard that all too familiar snippet of a tune that his heart seemed to remember, though he did not know it at all or where it came from. However, when it didn't stop, he furrowed his brow and looked up, listening more intensely as the soft noise of whatever it was continued. Slowly rising, he followed the sound as quiet as he could, realizing that it was most definitely a song and as he neared the door where Samara had just disappeared through he realized that it was coming from inside.

Peaking through the small sliver that the ajar door allowed, he caught sight of Samara's profile in the dimly lit room as she laid the almost sleeping child to rest in a white crib. "Someday soon, we all will be together. If the fates, allow," Samara sang softly as she tucked the baby inside. Severus felt the string of his heart being tugged to hear lyrics and more to that little piece of a song that had tortured him his whole life for as long as he could remember, always becoming more painful when the holidays came. "Until then, we'll have to muddle through… somehow," Samara continued and Severus saw a tear streak down her the side of her face that was vaguely visible to him, wrenching at his heart as much as the sad yet beautiful tune that she was singing softly to the now nearly fully asleep child. "So have yourself, a merry little Christmas night," she finished softly and slowly as she wiped the tear from her face and stared lovingly at the now fully asleep child.

Severus turned away from the scene as realization hit him and he placed a hand where his heart was once more thudding painfully. Seeing Samara sing her baby sister that precise song to sleep told his heart exactly where he recalled that tune from even though all logic told him that was impossible. He was almost quite certain that his very own mother sang him that son when he was just a babe, trying to instill hope in him, but it was a sad kind of hope, like that in the song. As though despite the fact that you were trying to be hopeful, deep in your heat you knew better than that and knew that things wouldn't get any better no matter what.

Making his way down the hall to stand in the living room once more where he was supposed to be waiting for Samara, Severus wondered what it all meant. Was it a mere coincidence that Samara was using that precise song to sing her baby sister to sleep, or was there more to it than that? However, before he had long to ponder it, he found himself suddenly yanked around and staring at Samara. Silently, he cursed her forever light footsteps and her ability to remain undetected when she walked as he stared down at her angered gaze, only slightly glossed over. The fire beneath her hazel eyes told made everything inside him tense and he knew that he would be lucky to escape from this alive.

"I want to know exactly what happened, down to every detail," she said, her voice slightly wavering in her efforts to maintain her anger so that her voice was just barely above a whisper. She had her fists clenched at her sides and as Severus stared down at her he could honestly say he didn't expect this. He hadn't ever thought in a million years that she would want to hear about every sickening detail and he was not about to tell her. "I want to know everything that lead up to it and exactly where and how it happened and what was going through your head at the moment," she said murderously, her voice still shaking with the anger as her body trembled with it.

"Samara, you can't possibly expect me," but before he could finish what he was saying Samara gave him a dangerous look as she stepped closer to him.

"I expect you to and you will. At the moment you are in no position to deny me anything and I at least deserve this much," she said as she looked up into his eyes, a tear escaping her right eyes as she looked at him. Severus felt another tug at his heart to see her in pain and knew that it was all his fault. Turning away from her he sat down and placed his head in his hands in shame as he recounted every detail of what happened, including the dream-like state that he had slipped into, admitting to the embarrassing dream that he'd been having about her. The hardest part that he had to get through was telling her about when he'd woken and realized that he wasn't dreaming and it was Cross who was… servicing him. However, throughout the whole time he did not once have the courage to look her in the eyes and only slightly aware of her labored breathing while she remained otherwise silent.

"…I didn't know where I was heading, but next thing I knew I was standing outside your door intending to tell you everything," Severus said as he looked at her, at long last finishing his tale. He couldn't imagine a worse torture than what he had just gone through. He had to guess that they were among the top more excruciating minutes of his life. Severus looked up when he heard Samara sigh loudly and watched her intently. She had her arms crossed over her chest and she didn't look very happy. However, there wasn't any anger in her face. Actually it seemed completely devoid of expressions, hollow.

"I want you to leave me alone Severus, go back to the castle," Samara said softly as she turned away from him and walked away, going into her room and closing the door behind herself, locking it. Severus stared at her for a long moment, wondering what that meant and stayed sitting there, staring at the spot where she had just been sitting. Standing up slowly, completely confused about what had just happened and unsure of what she said meant. Where they over?

**TBC…**

**A/n: **Okay, I know that was a lot in this chapter and now you all have a real good reason to hate Cross. I really hope that this wasn't too graphic for anyone, I did try to make it was "Teen" as possibly but I mean, "teen" covers a wide range of ages and some teenagers know a lot more about sex than others.

Oh as this story is so long, how would you all feel about a sequel instead this story going on forever? Not that it's over yet, there is more to come as I'm planning to wrap up her seventh year in this one if there is a sequel. Anyway, please leave a review and tell me what you thought about the chapter.


	70. New Yars Traditions

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 70: New Years Traditions**_

The days between Christmas and New Years Eve had passed Severus torturously slow and for the most part he kept to the Dungeons, only emerging from his private quarters every now and then to check oh the Slytherins, the few that remained in the castle that was. His mind was caught in the memory of what happened and in the retelling of Samara about what happened. He wasn't getting any sleep as his mind continued to torture him with the thoughts of what happened and the uncertainty of what was to come.

For the past several days, he had no idea what she meant when she said that she didn't want to see him. Had she meant that permanently or only for the moment? He knew that it was likely to make more sense that she'd meant permanently, but he couldn't bring himself to think that that was the case. He was dying with not seeing her and being able to talk to her as it was, he couldn't live knowing that she never wanted to see him again and that she hated him for what he had done. Though, he was sure that he very much deserved all her hate. He deserved that and so much more.

Trying to think of things logically, he knew that Samara was not vindictive and even if she didn't forgive him with what he had done and might leave him for it, that she wouldn't torture him for the rest of the time that she was at Hogwarts. He thought that she might perhaps internally hate him, but for the most part she would appear to be the same around him as she normally was when it came to their relationship was teacher and student, though perhaps she might make more of an effort to ignore him.

Looking up from his desk, he looked over to the door on which someone was knocking and stared at it warily. For the first time since he'd returned to the castle, he'd returned to his study. He hadn't wanted to return to it, somehow knowing that it was now tainted with what had happened and knowing that being in the room would bring back the memory he wanted to forget about. However, he knew that because he had things in here that his return to his study was inevitable. But once arriving, his fears were proven all too correct and he'd spend the whole day moving all his possessions from this room into either his classroom, office of Private quarters, having decided that he never wanted to return to it again.

He was checking his desk to make sure he'd had everything that was his when he heard the knock on the door. He grimaced as he stared at it, knowing that there were only few teachers who knew of its location and knowing that the person knocking was probably the same Professor that he'd been avoiding at all costs since his return to the castle. Sighing deeply, he knew that this confrontation was bound to happen as he could not avoid her all year and decided it was best to be gotten over with before the students returned to the castle, which they were scheduled to arrive on Saturday, only two or three days hence.

"Come in," Severus called out, shutting the last of the drawers of the desk as the door latch was turned and someone stepped into the room. Severus looked up coolly and stared at Pandora Cross as she stood in the open doorway. Her cheeks were a bright shade of red and she was looking around sheepishly. Severus looked over at her and raised a brow, pushing away all the emotions concerning Samara away and clearing his mind completely of all thoughts and emotions as he stared at her in the most neutral mask that he could muster. "Yes?" he asked as he stared at her with his black eyes fixed intensely on her. It wasn't that he blamed her for what happened, but he wanted to get this over with as soon as was possible and her being bashful about what happened wasn't moving things along.

"I've been meaning to talk to you," Pandora said. Severus had to give her credit for rallying enough courage to speak so evenly and manage to at last look at him. "I'm, thoroughly embarrassed by what happened. I realize that it was quite unprofessional and I'm sorry. I am normally able to control such impulses, unfortunately I was inebriated," Pandora said, her face turning redder than it already was, however, still managing to look him in the eyes and retain the calmness in her voice. Severus found it astounding that she could still hold her head up so proud when he himself felt like digging himself a hole and being buried beneath it. However, he merely continued to stare into her glistening blue eyes and nodded curtly.

"I don't think you have anything to apologize for, I really should have stopped it as well. Saying that I was inebriated is quite a lame excuse, however. I should have exerted more control," Severus said dryly and irritably as he cast his glance away. He was well aware that he was being quite the insensitive git, but he really didn't give a damn. Honestly it was really nothing against Cross, all the anger was really only towards himself for he was really the only one to blame. It wasn't like Pandora knew that he was in a relationship with Samara and therefore should have stopped. It was all his fault. "I assume that we should both just put it behind us," Severus said as he looked up and over at Pandora.

"I agree that we should pretend it never happened and go back to how we were before. We still have to sponsor the Dueling Club and I don't think that the children should suffer because of a mistake," Pandora said calmly as she looked at him in the eyes. Severus nodded stiffly as this while looking across the room at his colleague. He supposed that she was right, though he had no real desire to continue the club. If they stopped that would appear strange to not only the students but to the rest of the staff as well and Severus simply did not want that type of attention. "Umm… Well on another note, Professor Dumbledore would like to speak to you. I think that he's worried about you as no one has really seen you the past couple days and he doesn't think you should be alone tonight, seeing as how it is New Years Eve and no one should be alone tonight," Pandora said as she looked at him.

Severus merely nodded at this and walked out from behind his desk. He really had no desire to see anyone and while he didn't want to talk to Dumbledore, he supposed he really should see the man if he was requesting his presence, even if it was only so that he wasn't alone. Making his way across the room, he exited the room without looking at Pandora, only mildly aware of the way that she looked at him slightly hurt and exited behind him, shutting the door softly behind herself. Severus marched down the hall to the nearest staircase, knowing exactly where Dumbledore would be as it was New Years Eve and like always, there would probably be a staff party in the lounge in celebration of the coming New Year. Not something Severus thought was worth celebrating.

Walking down the hallway together silently, Severus ignored the way that their combined footsteps echoed through the dimly lit and empty hallways. The silence that hung between them was steadily starting to irk him and as he cast a sidelong glance over at his silent companion. He noted the somewhat hurt look in her eyes, despite the fact that she was trying to keep a straight face and felt some of the guilt that had been plaguing him for days come up inside him. Turning forward, he thought about what Cross could possibly be feeling at the moment as he steadily made his way down the stairs with her towards the ground level floor.

Seeing as she was the one that had started everything, she had more reason to be embarrassed. He could also imagine that he had severely bruised her ego by jumping away from her and leaving like that and not wanting to see her for several days. He supposed that the way that he was treating her wasn't making things any better, not that he was acting any different than he would normally. Although he supposed that he really should try to be more civil. Turning to look at her as they made their way onto the landing and started to make their way down the halls, Severus opened his mouth, trying to think something got say before she took notice of him.

"I didn't quite mean to take off the way that I did," Severus said as they neared the teachers lounge. Pandora stopped a few feet away from the door and turned to look at him with a raised brow. Severus stopped as well and turned to look at his colleague, who was wearing silver robes, which went famously with her blue eyes, though he was quite sure he liked the way that her strawberry curls looked against it. "It was quite rude and insensitive," Severus said as he stared t her, speaking with no emotion in his voice.

Pandora merely smiled sheepishly as she stared at him. Though, she didn't quite understand his motives for taking off the way that he had, she imagined it had only been a normal reaction for someone who was so distances from the entire world. "That's all right, I suppose it really was for the best, who knows who could have happened otherwise. I had no control over myself and I suppose you saved me a bit more embarrassment," she said gently as she looked up at him. A little way away from where they were currently standing, they heard a group of people counting down from ten, their voices slightly muffled by the lounge door, and they realized that midnight and the New Year was probably nearing. "Happy New Year, Severus" Pandora said at the same time as the rest of the Professors in the lounge. She then leaned up and placed a small kiss on his lips, shocking the potions master.

"Professor Cross?" Pandora jumped away from Severus, feeling quite startled and embarrassed as she cast a glance to see who had happened by. Her eyes widened slightly to see that it was a student, however, found herself furrowing her brows as she realized that it was the Head Girl. She hadn't seen her at all in nearly two weeks and she'd been quite sure that Samara had gone home for the holidays, she didn't understand what she was doing at the castle.

For Severus' part, he was just as confused by Cross to see Samara, though, more so confused because of the kiss that Cross had given him. Furthermore, his heart started to pang more and the realization of the compromising position that Samara had just found them in, and noting by the burning look in her eyes he knew that she was not at all pleased. Internally, he cursed the fates for putting him in this position.

"Samara, what are you doing here? I didn't know that you were at the castle, and you should be wandering the halls at this hour," Pandora said, her tone slightly sheepish yet somehow at the same time sounding a bit reprimanding.

Samara turned her incredulous gaze from Severus back to Professor Cross and tried to keep herself from glaring at the Professor and fought internally with herself to keep calm. Her mind was reeling, trying to come up with a reasonable response. "I am staying home for the holidays. My sister is very sick and her fever has spiked. I need a potion that I do not have, so I came here, not knowing where else to go. I'm sure that Professor Snape has one in his private stores," Samara replied, not sounding too kind as she stared somewhat hard at Cross. "What were you and Professor Snape doing?" she asked as she looked at the woman with strawberry blonde hair, becoming angrier with the woman. She knew that it was completely unreasonable to be angry with cross, but the woman honestly vexed her like no one else she'd ever known.

Pandora blushed at this, and smiled a little nervously, obviously trying to distract the Head Girl by reprimanding her wasn't going to work. "New Years Tradition…" however, Pandora stopped herself, not knowing why she was even going to bother explaining this to a student. "Actually, Samara, that really isn't any of your concern," Pandora said as she looked at Samara.

Severus watched as Samara raised a sleek brow at this and crossed her arms over her chest. He knew that the fire inside Samara was burning hotter and she was not at all enjoying being spoken to in this manner. He supposed it was one of her peeves to be spoken to in such a manner and he knew from personal experience that she didn't like it and would not stand for it. "Excuse me Professor Cross, but I believe that relationship in between Professors is quite frowned upon and therefore you are breaking a school rule and somehow I doubt that it will be tolerated by Professor Dumbledore, or any of the members from the Board of Governors. It is quite inappropriate."

"That is quite enough Samara," Severus said sternly as he looked at her, causing her to turn and look at him, her anger only mounting and visible behind the surface of her eyes. Slowly, he turned his cool gaze to Cross, his stomach in knots and knowing that he was making things a whole lot worse, but knowing that if he did not stop this now that it was only going to escalate into something much worse. "Would you excuse us, I need to speak to my student," Severus said, turning away from Cross before she responded and grabbing Samara by the hand and leading her away from where they were, down the hall and to the closes empty classroom.

As soon as they had stepped inside Samara wrenched her arm free from his grasp a little violently and pulled out her wand. For a moment Severus thought that she was going to curse him, however, found this fear unfounded as she quickly cast muffliato and locked the door. She then rounded on him, looking quite livid. "Just WHAT in the bloody HELL do you think that you are DOING?" she shouted angrily as she held her trembling hands at her side, gripping her wand so tightly Severus thought that she might break it.

"I suppose your sister's fever truly didn't get any worse?" Severus said, trying to divert her attention away from it. Her eyes widened in anger. "Samara, I don't understand what Pandora was doing, but nothing happened," Severus said, calmly, hoping that it would calm her as well. Samara stuffed her wand back into her robes and ran a hand through her hair in frustration. Turning away from him and beginning to pace, Severus stared at her with his brows furrowed in concern as he watched the teenager.

"What am I doing?" she asked herself, still sounding angry but speaking so softly that he could hardly hear her. She had downcast her gaze as she paced, not allowing him to see her anguished face due to the fact that it was mainly covered by the curtains of raven black hair. "After Xavier, I promised I wouldn't let any other man walk all over me," Samara said as she ran her hands through her hair. Severus had a feeling that she was speaking more to herself than to him and he found his worry for her mounting as well as all the guilt and pain. "But here I am… I came all this fuc…I came here to forgive you," she said, throwing him a disgusted look, while still pacing.

"You were going to forgive me?" he asked as he looked over at her confused. Samara laughed, throwing her head back. It was quite the bitter laugh and Severus found himself worried about her mental state. Was she having a break down?

"Yes, can you believe that I could be so stupid? I thought that by making you tell me, making you relieve it and leaving you alone a couple of days to think that you lost me would be punishment enough, but now I can see that I'm so stupid," she said as she stopped pacing and looked over at him, a single tear streaking down her pale cheek. Severus felt it tug on his heart as he stared at her. "Even now, I know I should leave you and hate you for the rest of my days but I can't and I'm so angry at myself! I'm almost as bad as my mother," she said in disgust as she turned away from him and continued to pace.

Severus felt himself fall to an all-time low. He'd seen Samara upset many times and while it always wrenched at his heart, this felt worse. She'd never said anything like that about her mother, and now because of him, she felt that way. He was the reason that at the moment, she was so angry, more than she had been at any other point of her life and he had a feeling that most of that anger she was directing at herself more than him. That she was blaming herself more than she was blaming him for her anger. "Samara," Severus said lowly in a calm voice. "I never meant to do any harm. It was a mistake, a horrible mistake and I know that it doesn't make it any better. I don't deserve your forgiveness."

Samara turned away from him and sighed. "We're all human Severus, we all make mistakes," Samara said, not bothering to look over at him as she spoke. Severus stared at Samara's form, which he noticed had visibly relaxed and he knew by her tone that she was calmer now, though not at all happy. Turning around slowly, Samara looked over at him, her hazel eyes sparkling as they looked at him and he knew that she wanted to cry and he felt awful that he was the cause of those tears. "We all deserve second chances," she said as she looked at him. Severus furrowed his brow at this, wondering what she was getting at. His head thumped painfully in his chest as he dared to hope that she was giving him a chance even though he didn't deserve it. Turning away, Samara made her way towards the door and unlocked it. "But I won't let you hurt me like this again, Severus," she said in warning to him as she opened the door and walked out of the room, feeling emotionally drained as she closed the door behind herself.

Severus stared at the closed door, still feeling the terrible guilt about what he did to Samara, but feeling grateful to her. He supposed that only made things so much worse and he found himself wondering if she had forgiven him.

**TBC…**

**A/n: **Hope that everyone enjoyed the chapter. Please Review!**  
**


	71. Wandering Thoughts

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 71: Wandering Thoughts **_

Since Samara's return to Hogwarts on Saturday, things were a little strange between them. Neither one of them seemed to dare to physically stand too near each other and while in the same room together, an uncomfortable type of silence hung between them. They'd spent that first Saturday evening together and there wasn't much that he could remember being said but common pleasantries. Samara did try to be pleasant and smile, but there was always something in her eyes that was simply not the same. Something hollow and un-emotional that made his skin crawl. It made him wonder how they would be at all capable of really continuing this relationship. Besides, when she left that evening, after only having spent an hour together, a painful hour at that, Severus wasn't at all sure that she'd even forgiven him.

He knew for certain, that for some reason or other, she was not about to forgive Professor Cross. It was something that was made quite clear to him when he was walking out of the Great Hall after Lunch on Sunday afternoon and spotted the two standing before each other. There was a civilly defiant look in Samara's face as she stared quite hard up at Cross. "I am not your personal assistant Professor Cross. I may have been obligated to help you start the club, but as a student, I don't think that I should have any part in the application process and I am sure that you are more than capable of doing that for yourself," he heard Samara say from where he was standing, about ten feet behind the two witches.

Cross made a move to respond, but by then Samara had long gone already, heading outside. Severus was quite surprised by this, just as Cross seemed stunned; the only time he had ever seen Samara even be the slightest bit disrespectful towards a teacher was when she was shouting at _him_ back in her fourth and fifth year. While before he had never particularly seen too much interaction between Cross and Samara, he had seen them enough to know that Samara was as pleasant with Pandora as she was with almost every other teacher.

Turning away, Severus merely tried not to put very much thought into this occasion. While his instincts told him that things would only get much worse between Pandora and Samara, he tried not to think about it. He tried to rationalize that Samara was merely blowing off some steam at anyone who crossed her path at the moment and that once she was over that, there would be nothing to worry about. He felt that Samara was responsible enough to remember one of the cardinal rules of their relationship, which was to keep it a secret at all costs and before everything else.

However, as the day continued to pass and things seemed to return to some normalcy, he realized that their relationship was simply where it was supposed to be. He knew that this was only perfectly normal, considering what had happened, but he found himself growing anxious about their relationship. It felt so dry and sucked out whenever he was around her and on top of everything, the guilt that he felt simply would not go away and was intensified when he was around her. It made him wonder what it was that she felt like to be in his presence. Was she now constantly hurt when she was around him? Was she constantly in anger and anguish to be in the same room with him for any amount of time?

They spent a short time together Monday and Tuesday evening, and while Samara did not show any anger or pain on her façade, he knew better. One look in her eyes told him more than enough and while she did try to smile at him, he could see that they were not her usual smiles. They looked somewhat strained and forced, and for the most part, whenever he saw her around in the castle, she looked rather serene and stoic, not something he was used to seeing in her and not something he entirely liked. He quite missed her smiles and the fact that he knew that it was all his fault made him feel terrible.

Wednesday and Thursday evening, knowing that Samara would be busy and needing to get out of the castle, Severus found himself tracing the castle grounds and on Thursday heading down to Hogsmead. He ignored the snow at his feet at the biting cold in his face as he walked at a slow gate towards the village. He really had no real reason to go there, though he was very aware of the fact that the following day was both his and Samara's birthday. He knew that on these types of occasion, it was customary to give someone a gift, however as he at last entered the village, he wondered if that would be far too like trying to buy her forgiveness.

Wandering from shop to shop, looking at absolutely everything that there was to buy, he realized that there was absolutely nothing that he could really buy her as a gift. He had no idea what size dress robes she was, and even if he did he would not know how to pick any for her. He had no idea what kind of sweets she would like, buying something from Zonkos was simply like yelling the statement '_I do not know you at all'_ and everything else was simply obsolete. There was simply nothing that he could give to her that she would possibly want. There was absolutely nothing that worth getting her, because she deserved far more than anything that he could offer her.

Realizing just how little he knew about the supposed love of his life thoroughly depressed him as he exited yet another shop and started to wander aimlessly through the darkened village. As he made his way and stared up at the sky, he wondered how it was possible that he knew so little about her. Well he knew her whole life's story, but when it came to what she liked he had no idea. Well he did know that she loved Pomegranates. He also knew that she disliked roses and chocolate, and he figured that was as far as he really knew which didn't help him at all as that made her slightly unconventional in comparison to other girls. Also, he supposed that she had to have some type of aversion towards using foul language, for even in her anger she refrained from using it, though, at times it did seem to slip out, but she usually caught herself before using them.

As for her personality really didn't lend itself to helping as she was more that just a little unpredictable, mainly due to how impulsive she was. Besides, knowing that she was nice, sweet, incapable of making real friends because she didn't trust anyone with her family life, was not exactly helpful. Neither was it particularly helpful at the moment that she had a tendency to lose her temper as there was a constant fire burning beneath her seemingly friendly façade. He didn't even really know what she was capable of when she was angry, though he knew that she was capable of shouting and quite possibly becoming violent, though for the most part she seemed able to control that. However, he did know that she was quite adept to Dueling and could take care of herself, and therefore was capable of real damage if she were not able to control her anger.

Gazing down at the ground, he wondered if this was a bad indication about their relationship. He really knew so little about Samara and Samara knew even less about him. He found himself wondering as he walked if this relationship was based on solely physical attraction, despite the fact that they hadn't gotten very far. He tried to tell himself that he was absurd, but as he thought of the last couple of days, where they had not touched each other at all because of what happened, how dry their relationship seemed. They had absolutely nothing to say to each other that was worth any sustenance, and the only topic that they really should discuss they both seemed unable to.

Lost in his thoughts as he was, Severus didn't really realize where he was going and was quite rudely shaken out of them when he felt himself shoulder into something quite hard. Coming to a stop, Severus scowled and looked to what had gotten in his way and found himself staring at a fairly older man, whom for some reason his face seemed familiar as the man suddenly smiled up at him. Severus furrowed his brow, looking from the red curls on the man's head, to his deep blue eyes and raised a brow. He had seen him somewhere before, but where?

"Good evenin' to you, sir," the man said pleasantly as he looked at Severus, his voice carrying a Irish accent. "How are the wife and baby?" he asked pleasantly as he stared up at him. Severus eyed the man for a moment before something in his head clicked. The previous year, his and Samara's birthday had fallen on a Hogsmead weekend and she'd invited him to an Italian restaurant. This was the waiter that they had, the one that thought that he and Samara were married and thought that she was bearing his child. Severus had never bothered to correct the man, and as he stared at him, he tried to formulate an answer while he thought about the strange coincidence.

"She lost the baby," Severus replied honestly, furrowing his brow and loosing himself in his thoughts once more. He had no idea what to do. However, a thought was formulating inside his head and while it would reasonably be something good, it could just as easily be a perfect disaster. After all, being alone with Samara lately was proving to be quite disagreeable, would a change of atmosphere really make things any better? However, he supposed that he really did need to make things up for Samara and she seemed to particularly like the one time they had a real date. Besides, it really wasn't like things could possible get any worse.

"I'm so sorry to hear that," the man said sympathetically, bringing Severus back to the current moment. Severus merely nodded at this as he locked eyes with the mane that was staring at him. Severus stared at the man in thought before he decided to speak once more.

"I was wondering, tomorrow is her birthday and I'd like to do something special for her..." a knowing smile spread over the mans face and he nodded. This should be a step in the right direction. He hoped.

**TBC…**

**A/n: **Well there is it, so sorry that it took so long for me to update. For anyone else who is wondering where I got the name Samara from (I know you were asking about it Vaila) I got it from the movie The Ring. It was the name of the evil little girl and for some reason, when Samara was twelve, that's how I pictured her. Anyway, once again so sorry for taking so long. Please leave a review and thank you all for continuing to read! I just wish my ideas for this story were flowing better. I guess I'm a bit distracted.


	72. A Horrid Birthday's Twist

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 72: A Horrid Birthday's Twist **_

"Not happy that it is your birthday?" Severus asked when Samara walked into his office after lunch the following day. Samara dropped her bag on the floor and stared at it for a moment. Severus had noted during lunch in the Great Hall that she wasn't happy. In fact, she'd seemed to be in a bad moon the entire period and Severus didn't know why. He'd never seen her brooding before and guessed that usually it was because her anger exploded out of nowhere and she usually hid it. However, today she didn't seem to care for trying to hide it.

"It's been a bad day," she said, exhaling through her mouth, causing the small hairs that hung on either side of her hair to blow out for a moment, before falling back onto her face. However, they were a little askew now and covered her eyes instead of hanging to the side. Walking around his desk and standing next to her, Severus tentatively reached out and pushed the hair from her line of vision and looked deeply into her eyes as she at last turned to look at him, trying to calm herself by bottling everything that she felt away.

Samara smiled a bit to feel his fingers trace her skin. This was the first time that he had touched her since they had returned. She knew that there was something wrong with their relationship, but she knew that it would simply take some time before they were back to normal. Currently, she was working very hard at controlling her jealousy and her anger, and while she was capable of managing it around Severus because she loved him, she couldn't around Cross. NO matter how hard she tried and no matter how she knew that it wasn't Cross' fault, she simply could not stop herself. It was like she was transferring the anger to the person who had participated. She knew it was completely irrational, but who was rational when it came to love?

"I see," Severus said, frowning a bit in thought of what he'd arranged for her and had cost quite a bit. Of course money wasn't an issue for him. He didn't care wasting away everything he had if it would make Samara happy. However, he supposed it would be more the thought that counted and he felt that he had put quite a bit of thought into her surprise. "Considering its our birthdays I have something planned for us this evening. Around eight," he said coolly as he stared into her eyes.

Raising a brow at this, Samara frowned slightly. "You planned something for us?" she asked, sounding a bit disappointed. Not that she hadn't gotten Severus anything for his birthday, after all she had bought him a Christmas gift and a birthday gift, only she had not had the opportunity to give them to him yet. However, she hadn't expected for them to do anything and therefore was disappointed. "I thought that you didn't like your birthday," she said as she stared at him.

"I don't and I know that neither do you, but it seemed a good reason to do something nice for you," he responded nonchalantly. However, he felt his insides tighten. This was already not going well. Samara didn't look particularly excited about this, like the way she'd been when she'd gotten pissed off at him and he'd made her happy by taking her to the Prince garden. He knew that this time was considerably graver than whatever it was that had happened the last time, which at the current moment he didn't particularly remember, however, he could believe that he wounded her so that she would look so disappointed at him doing something nice for her. Had he been wrong to try and do so? Was she disappointed because she felt that he was trying to bribe her into forgetting what had happened and forgiving him for it? His heart broke to think of what she might be thinking about him to seem so disappointed.

"That is.. sweet," Samara said, smiling slightly at him, even though her eyes continued to look sadly at him. Severus felt his heart flutter, wondering how she could look so beautiful and yet tragic at the same time. She looked slightly pained as she looked at him, her heart fluttering softly as she stared at him and felt tears welling up in her eyes. She found herself thinking about how he really was a good person and while it pained her to think that he had allowed someone else to touch him while he was with her, she understood the fragile and weak nature of all humans and how everyone made mistakes. The mistake he made pained her greatly, despite the fact that she knew everything and knew that he wasn't fully to blame. However, she just wished that she could forget about it so that she could completely forgive him. So that things would be easier and so that she wouldn't end up ruining what they had because she knew that Severus was such a very good man and she loved him so much that it hurt.

Severus stared at her in mild concern as he watched her head droop slightly and wondered what she was thinking about. Slowly, he reached out and took her chin gently in his hand and had her look up at him. He stared deeply into her eyes and could see them sparkling up at him and he wondered what she was thinking about. It pained him to see that painful hope that seemed to slip away from her. "Everything will be fine Samara," he said as he stared into her eyes, thinking that perhaps she had all the same fears that he did. Thinking that perhaps they wouldn't be able to withstand this storm and afraid of loosing each other. "Will you meet me tonight in the entrance Hall?" he asked softly as he stared into her eyes.

Samara bit her lip as she pulled away from him and turned away, her cheeks flushing. "I can't," she said, causing Severus' heart to stop beating and clench tightly. He stared at her in confusion as she turned to him. The pain was gone from her eyes and the expression was darker. He didn't notice the darker pink tint on her cheeks as he realized that she was once more angry and he wondered why she had so suddenly become angry. "Professor Cross gave me detention this evening because she didn't like something that I said," she said as she looked up into his eyes and he suddenly understood why she was rejecting him and why she'd been so surly. Severus grit his teeth at the wrench that had been thrown into the workings of what he'd thought would be a perfect surprise.

Closing his eyes in exasperation, he pinched the bridge of his nose. He was not angry at Cross, and he wasn't even irritated at Samara, for he was sure that she probably said something she shouldn't have. However, he was very irritated at the situation. Out of all the days that she could have had her detention scheduled for, did he have to be tonight? Severus took in a deep breath. "There is no way that you are serving the detention tonight," he said as he kept his eyes closed and his hand poised on the bridge of his nose as the wheels in his brain started to turn to figure out a way that he could fix this. His mind was going through a series of excuses as to how students had ever gotten out of his detentions including sickness, an excuse from another teacher who needed the student more urgently and... actually that was it as he was not inclined to allow anyone to shimmy out of his punishments.

"Well what choice do I have?" Samara asked, causing Severus to look over at her with a raised brow. His irritation was mounting.

"Just meet me in the evening, don't worry about Cross. I'll fix it somehow," Severus said, some of his irritation seeping into his voice. Samara picked up her things off the floor and glared at him as she turned on her heel saying a just as equally irritated 'fine' as she left. Severus sighed, this did not look like it was going well. And what the hell was he going to do about Cross?

---

Being in Slytherin made you very good at manipulating people to get what you desire. Knowing that telling Cross outright that she should reschedule Samara's detention would be suspicious and therefore he'd spend the following hours leading up to dinner devising a plan to make her do it on her own. As he took his seat between the two women he was planning to use for his plan to work, he felt a smug smile grace his lips. He felt confident that he knew them both well enough to get their reactions straight and have them easily in his plan. "Hello Severus," both women said as he took his seat and then glaring at each other. Well, Aurora seemed to do most of the glaring.

Severus merely nodded curtly in response as he started to shovel trace amounts of food to his plate and maintained his extremely sour visage. It didn't take too long for Pandora to notice that the Potions Master was in a foul mood, though she had not seen his smug smile to know that he was not too sour at all. However, as she currently believed him to be in a foul moos, curiosity, as it was likely to do in almost all humans, got the better of her. Not to mention the fact that she was actually concerned for her colleague. Had she not been there might have been something wrong with her. "Are you all right Severus?" Pandora asked, sounding concerned.

"Just another year older, another year wasted on dunderheads who insist on making my life hell every single day," he growled bitterly as he stabbed at his food. Knowing that Pandora was perceptive, he noticed the way that she stared at him, probably pondering his choice of words.

"Is it your birthday today, Severus?" Pandora asked, a small smile coming over her face. He nodded curtly, but did not turn to look at him. Knowing Aurora fully well, he knew that she was listening to ever bit of conversation that he was having with Cross as she was currently eating and not engaged in another conversation. Therefore, as he predicted, she immediately turned to look at him and as he hoped, she was intrigued and knew of who else's birthday it was. A fact that Severus had only known about because he distinctly remembered that Aurora commented to him two years prior that she'd let Samara off the hook on one of her charts because it was her birthday. It seemed that Aurora Sinistra had a weakness for special treatment on special occasions, something that would presently work to his advantage.

"I didn't know it was your birthday today. Did you know that today is Samara's birthday?" Aurora said. Severus turned to Aurora and raised a brow quizzically as if he did not know. However, he merely turned, pretending he didn't care as he noted the pensive look on Cross' face as she frowned slightly. Of course she had taken notice of what Aurora had said when she butt into their conversation.

"That explains why she was so angry when I gave her detention tonight," Cross mumbled to herself as she stared down at her plate. Severus almost smirked at the way that Aurora's head snapped to glared over at Cross, anger flooding her. He knew that the Astronomy Professor had quite the weak spot, like most professor's did, for Samara. he knew that she was about to very persuasively convince Cross to in the least change the date of Samara's detention. Sitting back and pretending not to care about the heated, and yet quiet, argument that flew across him, Severus waited as the women came to the conclusion that he expected.

Rising from the table at the conclusion of the argument, in which Aurora had managed to cow Cross into changing the date of the detention, he felt himself extremely satisfied. As he rose and left the Great Hall, however, he felt the anxiety of that evening coming back to him. He hoped that in the very least, Samara's anger of the events of earlier on in the day would be forgotten. That would make for the evening to go by a little smoother than he was currently expecting.

---

"I don't know how you managed it, but I suppose that was what Professor Sinistra seemed to be speaking to Cross about. Why else would they talk to each other but to fight over something?" he heard Samara say as she approached him. Severus turned around and watched her approach. Despite the apprehensive tone that she was speaking in, Severus felt his heart flutter at the sight of her and his nervousness ebb away slightly. Had she not bothered to appear, he would have been upset. However, to see that she had gone through the trouble of wearing a bit of makeup and a set of robes that complimented her quite beautifully made him feel hopeful.

"It isn't difficult to manipulate people when you know a little about them," Severus said as he offered her his arm. She looked at it warily for half-a-moment before taking it and allowing him to lead her outside where one of the school carriages was waiting for them. Samara raised a brow at this as her face relaxed somewhat and a small smile slipped over her face. Severus took notice of all of this, as well as the fact that she didn't seem to notice the Thesthralls. It made him feel quite relieved as most peole didn't seem to regard the beasts very highly. Severus himself felt that they were a little too macabre for his liking and reminded him far too much of his dark past. Ignoring these thoughts, he opened the carriage door and motioned for Samara to step inside as he offered her his hand.

"I feel like I feel into the nineteenth century," she smiled as she teased him. Nonetheless, she took the hand of the man she loved and allowed him to aid her into the carriage, even though she didn't need any help. Severus shook his head, though inside he was pleased that she was getting her humor back. He thought that it was a very good sign indeed and did not waste any time whatsoever in climbing in after her. As he sat down next to her, he rapped twice on the roof of the carriage and it started to move forward.

Reaching into the pockets of his plain, black robes, Severus pulled out a black silk blindfold. Looking back over at Samara, he could see a small smile playing on her face as she looked at him in a way that stated that there was no way that she was going to allow him to blindfold her. "Humor me," he said as he looked at her. Samara sighed and decided to be a good sport and closed her eyes. Severus took this as an opportunity and gently reached forward. As gently as possible, and trying not to get her hair caught in the silk cloth, he tied it around her head. "Is it too tight?" Severus asked as he made a bow so that it was easier to remove. Samara merely shook her head in response. "Can you see anything?" he asked as he stared at her.

"No Sevy, what are you up to?" she asked as she looked in his general direction. His heart fluttered to hear the nickname once more and Severus smiled to see her and knowing that she was fully beneath his control as she could not see anything and did not know what was going on. He supposed that for these reasons, Severus would hate surprises. However, he was very pleased with the amount of control it provided him with. As he stared into her beautiful face, he couldn't help but lean in and place a gentle kiss on her lips, eliciting a surprised gasp from Samara. It had been the first time that they had any physical contact with each other and as he felt the softness of her lips, he was pleased that he could still feel the shocks that ran through his body and the way that every inch of him tingled with warmth.

As he pulled away and looked into her face, he noted despite the darkness of the night that her cheeks were flushed, that her breathing had become somewhat erratic and that there was an incredible smile on her face. Smiling at this, his heart fluttered happily as he leaned in and placed another kiss on her lips, this one slightly more passionate than the first. He was pleased beyond believe to see that she still reacted to his kisses the same way as he always had and as he continued to kiss her, he noted the way that she immediately entangled her hands in his hair and pressed her lips tightly against him. Her tongue swept across him sensually but at the same time with a hunger that he didn't remember. She took his bottom lip between hers and bit on it softly, eliciting a moan from him as she softly sucked on it.

Running his hands gently over her face, the tip of his finger momentarily brushing by the soft silk of her blindfold, he thought that he could almost feel the heat of her cheek against his palm. Her lips and her mouth tasted as sweet as he remembered them and as explored the heated cavern of her mouth, he realized that she loved him as much as she always did. It made those butterflies in his stomach twitter around incessantly to realize that despite the fact that he had hurt her so that she was still capable of loving him just as passionately as ever.

They're kiss continued quite extensively and it wasn't too long before Severus had to pull away as he regretfully realized that they had arrived at their destination. "We're here," he said when he managed to speak without panting. Samara was vaguely aware as he pulled away and listened intently while sitting now rigidly to hear him open the carriage door and climb out. She was then vaguely aware of his hand taking hers and gently tugging her forward. Samara allowed the hand gently to lead her, warily following however, fully trusting him. She found it strange, as she tripped and her hear thundered in her chest thinking that she was going to fall on the snow covered ground outside, that she could still trust him with her life when he had cheated on her. However, as he found his arms catch her before feeling the wet snow at all, she smiled to herself, seeing that her trust in him was not unfounded.

"Sorry," she mumbled in embarrassment as she set her feet firmly on the ground. Severus looked down into Samara's face and wondered if her cheeks were rosy because of the cold, because of their recent activity or because she was embarrassed that she had tripped coming out of the carriage. Brushing her hair softly out of her face, his eyes drank in the sight of her wonderfully marble-like skin reflected the light of the full moon. Her silk-like hair and the black silk across her eyes both contrasted sharply against her luminescent skin and shone darkly in the soft light of the moon.

"Are you all right," he asked gently as he looked into her face, taking in her darkened lips, rosy cheeks and delectable skin. Samara merely nodded in response as she offered him a sheepish smile. Taking her arm gently in his, he led her slowly to the Italian restaurant and through the doorway. Upon entering, Severus glanced a quick look around at the now transformed room making sure that everything was absolutely perfect. He was quite pleased to see that all the tables were removed leaving only one. That everyone else, including the pianist and violinist were out of sight.

The table was set up with two candles softly light it, while the rest of the room was lit by spheres of light much like those of the first restaurant he'd taken her to as part of their date. However, these spheres were more like bubbles in which small golden-white faries were contained, lighting up the room in the same soft light as the other restaurant. Severus knew that she had been quite fond of this and therefore had tried to have it recreated to the best of his abilities. However, this was not the only way that he had the place changed for Samara's liking.

Sorounding the whole table where they would be eating, was a circle of vases from which flowers flowed. In each vase surounding the table, at least ten flowers of the same type filled the vase. Severus, making sure that every flower that she was surrounded by every flower he had given her and every flower that she liked. Bouquets of perfectly bloomed Red Carnations, Blue Camillias, Yellow Tulips, Stargazer Lilies, Daffodils and Narcissus would encircle her. And of course, he had not forgotten her absolutely favorite flower, for in the center of the table, there was a single Iris in the center of it all. Seeing that all was perfectly in order, Severus turned his pleased expression to face Samara who could not currently see any of it

Samara was immediately aware that they had stepped inside somewhere, for it suddenly grew worm and she could no longer hear any of nights wondrous sounds. Instead, she could hear the faint sound of a violin, accompanied by a soft piano and she furrowed her brow while smiling in delight, wondering where on earth she was. "Where are we?" she asked, sounding excited. Severus smiled as he let go of her arms and walked around behind her. He noticed the way that Samara tensed and gently wrapped his arms around her middle to reassure her, resting his chin on her shoulder. Samara turned her head to her right, where she felt Severus' head and relaxed into his embrace, placing her arms on his and holding onto him while smiling in complete bliss at his warmth flooding her body.

"Are you ready?" he asked her gently. Samara merely nodded fervently. Severus gently tugged on the bow he had made and allowed for the blindfold to gently fall away. Samara's eyes positively lit up like the sun when she took in the wondrous sight around her and her smile broaded to a full grin. Tears flooded her eyes to see the beauty around her and she immediately whirled around and threw her arms around Severus, holding on tightly to him. Severus would have laughed at her reaction, had he not felt her tiny arms positively squeezing him to death in the overly affectionate hug that she was suffocating him in. However, despite his discomfort, he smiled to see how happy she was and held her gently in his arms.

"Sevy, you went through all this trouble for me?" she asked as she pulled away and looked into his eyes deeply. A tear streaked down her cheek and it baffled him for a moment that she would shed tears of joy.

"Of course Samara, I only wish that I could have done more," he said, looking deeply into her eyes. "I love you."

Samara smiled as she placed a small kiss on his lips, murmuring a soft love you in return. It would have been all too easy for this to have solved all their problems. However, for the moment, they both pushed them all aside, forgetting everything but each other. However, hope arose in both their chests to know that their love for each other was still there, and the felt more assured now that they'd be able to get through their problems. It seemed that nothing could take that from them.

**TBC...**

**A/n:** I'm not sure when I will be able to update again, considering the following two weeks I will be in Mexico (I leave today). However, I'm going to my lappy and hopefully I will write a couple of more chapters over there. Hopefully a change of scenery will give me some ideas for Gumby.

I'm going to confess that part of my distractions have been because I keep thinking up new stories and writing their first chapters instead of working on Gumby. Also, I broke up with my bf of three years recently and find it hard to really want to do anything but watch TV so I can turn my brain to mush and not think about the break-up. However, I won't give up writing this because you guys all mean so much to me.

Thanks so much for reviewing this and continuing to stick with it. I don't want to disappoint any of you because you are all so wonderful! Hope you all liked the chapter.


	73. Heart To Heart

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 73: Heart To Heart**_

A notice went out that stated that during the month of January, Dueling club meetings would be postponed. It was a great relief to Severus, because it meant that he would not have to be around both Samara and Cross in the same room and time. However, he was sure that for Cross, who had to sift through all the applications to pick out students for the preliminaries, that it would be a very long month. It was something that he really didn't care for as it meant he would see less of his colleagues and more of the love of his life; a thought that was perhaps extremely selfish, but what did he care about that?

For the most part, January was passing slowly and seemingly without hitch; Severus and Samara returning to some normalcy. However, Severus could see the animosity that Samara felt towards Cross that she could not hide. Something that was steadily getting worse and starting to really annoy him beyond belief. Severus understood that Samara was not a saint, no matter how perfect he thought that she was and how much he loved her. He knew that as hard as she did try to forgive and forget, that somewhere inside she was very angry and that anger was being displaced and becoming hatred towards Cross. However, he felt angry about the suspicions that she was starting to arouse.

He was sure that by now Pandora was begining to wonder why the Head girl was giving her such a hard time. It was frustrating to Severus, because he wanted to talk to her about it and get her to stop and think about what she was doing. The problem was that he simply couldn't. He couldn't bring himself to reprimand her because of the guilt that still ate away at him every time Samara dropped her guard and he witnessed the residue of pain in her eyes, like a scar that would never go away. Besides, they were yet unable to talk about what happened and trying to avoid talking about it as much as they could.

Unfortunately, it wasn't something that they would forever be able to avoid. Something that became all too apparent on the Friday the 23rd, just before Hogsmead weekend when Severus' patience had been particularly tried. Something he had in common with Samara, who was on the brink of exploding due to something or other that had happened in Defense Against the Dark Arts. It wasn't something that was thoroughly explained due to her explosive attitude that afternoon. All Severus really knew was that whatever had happened resulted in a large cut across Samara's forehead near her hairline; a cut that was about an inch long and would have caused a scar had not Samara applied dittany.

Severus, of course, was concerned with what had happened and inquired what happened, resulting in him being snapped at by Samara, who at that point was like a lit firecracker waiting to explode. It wasn't something that sat at all well with the Potions Master. Glaring down at Samara and clenching his teeth, Severus felt the temperature in the room rise as all his frustration boiled into anger. "Pardon me for asking. I suppose it is merely a result of your impulsive nature and your recent desire to destroy our relationship," Severus said coldly, turning on his heels and walking away from Samara.

"Excuse me? What is that supposed to mean?" Samara asked as she watched him heading towards his bedroom door. They had met up in his private quarters and were presently arguing in the common room. Well _were_ as Samara was now following him into his bedroom. "Don't walk away from me, answer the question!" Samara nearly shouted at him. She couldn't stand having him walk away from him. Though she knew that she had the annoying tendency of walking away when they were having an argument, but she supposed the difference was that she did it to cool down and come back after having reasonably thought things through. It was something she was sure Severus was incapable of doing, mainly because she thought he was a little too proud to come back after thinking things logically through. Because if he found blame in himself, as she sometimes found blame in herself, unlike her, he would be completely unable to admit to it even to himself, let alone out loud to her.

"I'm not walking away, you're giving me a headache," Severus said sneeringly as he put a hand to his head. Samara glared at Severus as she stood in the threshold of his bedchamber. She glared at him while he walked to the side of his bed. Crossing her arms over her chest, she started to burn him alive in her eyes as she continued to watch him as he reached into his nightstand and pulled out a small phial of potion. However, she didn't watch him for long as she realized that she was in his room for the first time ever and cast a quick, curious glance around his room. There wasn't much to see as all he had in his room were his nightstand, fourposter and wardrobe.

"You know Severus, you really have some nerve, telling me that _I'm_ trying to ruin this relationship. If I didn't want to be with you I wouldn't be waisting my time by coming back to Hogwarts and taking you back to just destroy our relationship," Samara said angrily as she glared at him with her arms crossed over her chest. Severus turned around and glared at Samara after taking a sip of the potion.

"Stop behaving like an impetuous child. Do you really not see what you are doing? What do you think Cross is thinking when she sees your new dissidence?" Severus said, trying to calm himself as he looked across the room at Samara. Her expression changed and turned red.

"What the hell do you want me to do Severus? I'm trying to move past it, but I'm not bloody perfect! I can't! Every time I look at her I think, my boyfriend was pleasured by her! When I can't even bloody lay a god damned finger on you!" Samara shouted at him angrily. Severus was taken aback slightly, and knew that she was very angry to be both yelling and using that language. "How do you suppose that makes me feel?! Why don't you want me?! Am I too thin, is it because I don't have an hourglass figure? Do you think I'm some untouchable innocent, because I'm not! Or is that why you don't want me? What's wrong with me? Is black hair boring to you? Do you hate hazel eyes? What is it?!"

"You're being ridiculous, you know I was dreaming about you," Severus shouted as he looked at her. He was outraged by the suggestion that he could want anything but her at this point. He didn't like what she was accusing him of, though at the back of his mind, every bit of her insecurities were registered and made his heart pang. However, he was capable of ignoring the pain in his anger.

"But what where you thinking? You woke up and realized what was happening and you let her go on until you were satisfied! Where was your love for me then?" she shouted, taking a step into his room.

"The same place it is right now, non-existent," he shouted as he glared at her. Samara flinched back as though she were smacked and suddenly, Severus felt his hot-temper cool as he realized what he had just said. He looked up and could see the pained look in Samara's eyes as she blinked in confusion, tears building up in them. "Samara," he said softly, his stomach tightening and his throat closing up as he realized that nothing good was going to come of this. "Samara... I didn't mean..." however, before he could finish Samara had turned and made a dash out of the room. "Samara," Severus called out, sprinting after her.

He reached out for her arm, just as she was about to dash out of the common room and into the hall. However, before she had the chance he'd grasped onto her wrist, a little harder than intended and pulled her back into the room, closing the door behind her and holding her prisoner against it, one hand latched onto her wrist and the other holding the door closed by the handle. "Let me go!" she said angrily as she tried to push him off her, but unable to because he was stronger than her, neither could she see because of the amount of tears in her eyes.

"Samara, I didn't mean it," he said with fervor as he looked at her. She shook her head, and he knew that she wasn't listening to him, that she didn't believe him. "Samara..."

"Get the hell off of me!" she shouted angrily as she pushed him off her with all her might. Severus stumbled back for a moment and was so surprised, that he was unable to stop her as she opened the door and sprinted out. Severus stepped out into the hall slowly and watched her disappear down the hall, thinking it was at least fortunate that no one was there to witness her leaving his private quarters. However, there wasn't much consolation in it as he thought about the fact that there might not be anything to hide anymore, as once more he had throughly managed to ruin what they had been working on for quite some time.

---

The very next morning, quite sometime before breakfast, Severus made his way up towards the Head Girls rooms, but was barred entrance into them, which made him suppose that she was not in. He roamed the halls till breakfast, at which point he returned to the Great Hall and hoped that he would see her eating breakfast. However, he did not see Samara in the Great Hall, and being so distracted with his thoughts, decided to roam around in the castle for the most part of the day.

He was extremely worried that he had ruined the second chance that she had given him. His thoughts were so consumed with his fears, that when lunch came and he wandered down to the hall, he found himself wondering why it was as empty as it was. It wasn't too long for him to realize that it was a Hogsmead weekend and instead found himself heading down to the village, roaming from store to store, unconciously looking for Samara, who was nowhere to be found it seemed.

When the sun began to set, Severus made his way back up to the castle. He checked in on Slytherin, where there was no sight of Samara and after which he headed back to the Great Hall, where at long last he spotted her for the first time that day. She was sitting down, speaking to Ethan, Tim and Nate. Staring at her intently, he took notice of the way her face had a somewhat solemn expression, but she did not look hurt nor angry. Actually she looked a little tired and Severus decided that it was probably for the best not to approach her today.

He had a very long night, and the following morning wasn't made any better as he watched Samara walk into the Great Hall with Bill Weasley, laughing at something that he had said. Severus narrowed his gaze as he watched Samara and Bill stand at the doors into the hall, before entering. Severus once more watched Samara's face intently as she smiled at Bill and her eyes sparkled. He only momentarily turned to look at the teenage boy who was smiling broadly at Samara and speaking animatedly. The adoration in his eyes as he looked at Samara was absolutely hard to miss.

Severus gritted his teeth together as jealous swelled up inside him to see the two talking to each other. His hands clenched the utensils in his hands as he watched Samara laugh lightly at something before tugging gently on a strand of Bill's hair, while saying something that made him laugh in turn. However, whatever they were saying to each other was interrupted when they were joined by Eric Williamson. Bill seemed slightly vexed by the intrusion, but Samara didn't seem to care. She merely smiled politely at Williamson and Severus was sure that she was greeting him.

He watched intently as Samara continued to talk to the two Gryffindors for a moment, before being joined by her friends, whom Severus was sure insulted the Gryffindors, before hauling her away. Severus watched as Samara cast an apologetic look at the two Gryffindors left standing in the entrance hall as she walked over with her friends to the Slytherin table. Were she seemed to be slightly vexed by them, Severus guessed that they were reprimanding her for speaking to Gryffindors, however, were pacified by something she said.

Severus was not at all pleased by the events. However, it made him wonder more and more whether they were over. When he finished eating, Severus rose from the table and made his way along the Slytherin table, where he stopped behind Samara. "A word Samara," he said coolly as he stopped for but a moment behind her. When she turned to look at him in mild confusion, Severus walked away, knowing all too well that she would not disobey her Head of House in front of her fellow Slytherin's. However, as he walked out the noisy great hall, he was unsure as he could not at all hear her.

As soon as they were out of the hall and some way away, he stopped abruptly and spun on his heel, nearly causing Samara to run into him as she had not expected him to speak to her in public. For a long moment, they both stared at each other apprehensively as the doors of the Great Hall were shut and the noise was shut in. The hall felt eerily quiet, and Severus began to feel quite uncomfortably beneath the blank expression that Samara was gazing out at him with, her eyes devoid of all emotion, though her face was serene... actually for a moment he was reminded of his mother as he stared at Samara. He was reminded of all the times that she and his father were about to get into an argument and how she would look so weary and... defeated.

"What I said yesterday..." Severus started out, but Samara raised a hand to silence him. Sighing, she cast her gaze to the floor for a moment as she arranged her thoughts beneath Severus' confused gaze. His stomach was in knots, and the anticipation of hearing what she had to say to him filled him with anxiety.

"In the heat of argument, most people say things that they don't mean," Samara said as she looked up into his eyes. However, at hearing her words, his stomach did not lighten any as he saw that her expression did not change. "But I feel like I'm making excuses for you, just as I did with Xavier. I'd like to think that you and he are not alike at all, but just as he proved to be unworthy of trust, you are too. He never loved me and I begin to wonder if you ever did either. Rationally I've gone through it, and I can find no reason why you would endanger your job to just play with me. Why you would go through the trouble of doing nice things for me, because you don't even appear to have much of a sexual interest in me. But these are all conclusions that my mind comes up with, but as is always the case it seems the mind and heart will always be at war with each other.

"The heart forces you to believe in love, when there is absolutely no reason to. It usually causes you more harm than if you were ruled by your mind. But in this instant my mind is divided in two, telling me I have no reason to believe that you don't love me, but yet telling me it isn't a good idea to stay with you. And my heart... my heart aches to trust you and remain, but is in pain and full of doubt, and it doesn't believe your love true at all," Samara said as she looked up at him, her eyes becoming glossy while the expression on her face did not alter one bit during her monotonous monologue. "I don't know what to do anymore."

He was at a complete loss for words as he looked at her, his heart beating slowly like it was about to just suddenly give out because he knew that he was the cause of all her pain and doubt. More than almost any other instant in his life, Severus felt that he did not deserve to live and he realized that he really did not deserve to be with her. He didn't deserve her trust, not just because he'd cheated on her. He never gave her a reason to. It wasn't like he'd told her very much about his life, and he was hiding the fact that he was in love with Lily at one point and while Samara had complete rule of his heart that he would always love Lily. Most important of all, he wasn't telling her about his past as a Death Eater.

"You have no reason to trust me and I do not deserve you," Severus admitted as he looked deeply into her hazel eyes. Samara furrowed her brow as she looked up at him confused. "Saying anything about the love I feel for you would be futile, because you have no reason to trust it. You have no reason to trust me. I wish I could say that I do not play game with people, but the truth is that I do, because I can be quite sadistic. You deserve better Samara," he said as he stared down at her. He didn't know why he was helping her make a better case against him, but he knew that it was the right thing to do, even though it was killing him.

"Are you..." however, before Samara could finish the question a couple of prefects stepped out into the Great Hall. Samara and Severus both looked over at the people who I had intruded on their conversation and Samara tried to regain her composure as she smiled at Bill Weasley and Dawn Quagmire, the two Gryffindor Prefects, and the two Huflflepuff Prefects. It wasn't long before they were joined by the two Prefects from Ravenclaw and the Head Boy.

"Samara, we should really get started on the patrolling schedule. I have a lot of homework to do," Andrew said as he looked over at her. Samara merely nodded in response before turning to Severus.

"Thanks for your help Professor Snape, I'll drop by your office after dinner so you can look over my essay," Samara said politely as she looked into his eyes. Severus nodded curtly and cast a glare over at the students before turning on his heel and walking away towards the dungeons as he started to wrack his brain with what had just happened and what was going to happen in the evening when she stopped by for them to finish their conversation.

---

He had a lot of time to think by the time that dinner rolled around. His mind had come to the conclusion that he was far too selfish to live without Samara. While he knew that it was probably for the best to end things now before they got much deeper, it was a pain to him to think of seeing her everyday, longing to have her, and be tortured by the fact that he couldn't. Besides, he didn't want to see her broken-hearted for the rest of the year. And he couldn't stand the thought of her being indifferent about the break-up and getting together with someone while she was still a student.

However that did not mean that if Samara had every intention of leaving him, that he would stop her. He wasn't going to keep her with him against her will, not that he could. The willing he was able to let her go if she wanted it, as appose of leaving her because it was for the best, was because he loved her and would suffer anything for her. For himself, he could not bear the thought of being without her. If it was of her volition, than he had no other choice and he knew that she had every right to not want to be with him anymore.

"Are you all right Severus, you look pale," Pandora said in concern as she looked at him. Severus turned away from the food that he had not touched and looked at Cross for a moment, glaring at her. He was still in a foul mood, because of the events that had occurred in the course of only a few days. However, it wasn't that he was angry at anyone but himself, for he fully knew that he was to blame for everything. He knew that if Samara had not been the one to snap at him first, he would have snapped at her eventually about something else and they would probably be in the same boat that they were currently in.

"I_ am_ pale," Severus said as he turned away from her and started to shovel food in his mouth. His stomach churned in protested against the food and his mouth didn't taste anything. It seemed to cause him a lot of trouble to chew and swallowing was next to impossible due to how tight his throat was. He didn't really even know why he was going through the notions anymore and he desperately wanted to rise from his chair and leave the Great Hall. However, he merely continued to sit, glaring out at the hall, with a sour expression on his face; something not very out of the ordinary or at all suspicious.

Throughout the whole meal, he dared not look towards the Slytherin table, though he could feel Samara's eyes watching him. He supposed it was impossible for him to actually know unless he checked, but he knew that if he were to look acrosss the see of students to where he exactly felt the burning sensation form, he knew that his eyes would crash with the hazel gaze of Samara Green. He didn't really know how he knew, but he knew very well that he wasn't wrong. He was sure that she was watching him, probably studying him to see what she should expect from him.

Everything that she had said to him on Friday and earlier on in the day had remained with him. All he could think of Saturday was her banter about her insecurity and he couldn't believe that she could think of herself as anything but a goddess in his eyes. He didn't care that she was very thin and small, he loved her for he she was and that made her the most beautiful creature to walk the earth. Her body to him was simply amazing; he didn't care that she didn't have what the world thought that the ideal body shape was.

As for her eyes, he couldn't care what color they were, just as he didn't really care about the color that Lily's eyes were. It was the expression that they held in them that he was enamoured with. All at once the expression in her gaze was always pure, innocent, curious, sweet and yet at the same time deep passions burned beneath. It was like the 8th world wonder of the world, for he could not at all understand how it was possible or how it could ever be imitated, because even though Lily's eyes were much the same, the difference was in the different emotions that they held. While Lily's eyes were fiery, they were full of love, excitement, sympathy and sincerity. A bit different from Samara's, but that did not make Samara's gaze any less beautiful.

As for her hair, he never particularly cared much for her hair. It complimented her face, despite the severe contrast it made with her pearly white skin. It was perfect, even if it was a bit of a mess and it looked like it would eternally be soft and silky. He didn't care whether it was long, short, curly, straight, wavy, crimpled, thin, thick, so long as it was attached to her brilliant head, he didn't care. Besides, what did the color matter anyway? He had the exact same black shade of hair and the truth was the color black simply suited him.

Severus didn't know how to put into words everything that he thought or felt about her. However he ached to adore her. He wanted his fingertips to praise every inch of luminescent, soft skin. He wanted to taste every centimeter that was her delicious body and explore every curve and crevice. He wished he could show her what a goddess she was and to devote his whole life to worshiping her like she deserved. But when would a sinner, ever be worthy of even a brush with divinity?

These thoughts had consumed his sleep alone, and he knew that the words that she had spoke to him earlier that day when he thought of the implications. He had killed the hope in her heart and defeated her. He had broken her and he felt that he was no better than his father. His father had broken his mother, to the point that one day, there were no more flowers. Eventually, everything that Eileen was had died and the gardens fell into the same despair that the gardener had plunged into. All the light and beauty of the world died and left nothing behind but the darkness of Spinners End and the knowledge that death was inevitable. It made him fear of what he might do to Samara in the long run and he didn't want that for her. While he knew he would never do that on purpose, he had already hurt her without meaning to, what was going to happen later on?

Shaking his head of these thoughts that were plaguing him the whole day, Severus rose from his seat and walked out of the Great Hall. He exited quite quickly and abruptly and did not escape the notice of Samara, whom had been watching him for much of the meal. As she stood and excused herself with her friends, saying that she had a lot of work to do, she made her way out of the hall. After having observed him most of the evening, she was scared of being in the same room with him because he looked so angry. However, she knew that they had to clear things up.

Slowly she followed behind the Potions Master, keeping distance between them. Her footfalls were so light that they did not make a sound as she walked. Something that she was always delighted by because she loved to sneak up on him. However, at the moment, she didn't want him to notice that she was walking behind him as she stood for a moment and watched him descend down the stairs. She waited a couple of minutes before heading in the same direction.

Just as she reached the landing, she witnessed as his office door was shut behind him and for a few moments, she waited as she tried to calm her breathing, which for some reason or other had become a little more rapid. She was scared what was awaiting her beyond that door, and as she leaned against the banister, she continued to stare at the closed door apprehensively. The truth was, no matter how hurt she was, she couldn't bear the thought of not having Severus at her side. She didn't want things to end between them, no matter how dark everything seemed at the moment and no matter their problems. She was willing to try to fix things no matter what. While hope once dead, was hard to retrieve, her hope wasn't dead yet and like love she felt that you could always make more of it.

Reaching up her thin hand, Samara placed her hand over her heart and willed it to be still. The pounding in her ears made it impossible to think and sort out all the messy thoughts in which the only thing that was clear was that no matter what, despite all her doubts, broken trust, pain, confusion and everything else, that she would always love Severus. She didn't want their to be conditions to that love, and she wanted to forgive him for everything with all her heart. However,she was a jealous person, and like she'd heard once 'memory was the tormentor of the jealous'. She knew that if she could but forget about it, she would hold nothing against him, or Cross, or towards love in general.

Straightening up and taking in a deep breath, Samara set across the hall and raised her fist to knock on the door. For a moment, she hesitated and felt that perhaps she should leave so that she could have more time to think, but as she realized that Severus didn't deserve to be kept waiting, she lightly knocked on the door. He had told her, he'd been honest with her, and that counted for a lot. She didn't think it was fair for her to punish him, despite how angry and betrayed she still felt.

"Come in," Severus called from within as he watched the door latch intently, with no small feeling of trepidation in his stomach. He shut his mouth tight and pressed his lips into a hard line to keep them from shaking, not only from the freezing air of the dungeons, but of fear of what Samara had in mind when it came to their relationship. Standing behind his desk and hovering over it as if he'd been looking at something, Severus clutched onto the edges of the desk as he watched Samara enter and close the door behind her.

"What were you getting at earlier?" Samara asked as she leaned against the door, holding her hands behind her back. Severus straightened up, letting go of the edge of the desk and looking over at her. Suddenly he felt so exhausted and he collapsed into his seat. Placing his elbows on the table he dropped his head in his hands, causing Samara to look at the man that she loved in concern. After a moment, she realized that he must be as exhausted as she was, unable to sleep and tired because of all the emotions running through them for the past couple days.

"You deserve better Samara. Look what I have already done to you, what more will I do over the years?' he asked, not daring to look over at her. Samara furrowed her brow at this, wondering what it was that he meant. "What if I'm just like my father and I break you the way that he broke my mother, I don't want that to happen to you."

Samara blinked as she watched him. She though back to any time that Severus had shown any vulnerability and at the current moment, she could not really recall one. Except in that one instance at Spinners End. However, at the moment, she couldn't see a reason why she should doubt that he loved her, and for the moment, she forgot everything. Getting off the door, she quickly and silently strode over to his side and gently pried his head from his hands.

Severus was surprised when he looked up into Samara's eyes and could see them shining down at him full of love. "Sevy, you aren't like your father, or mine for that matter. You are a good man," she said gently, before leaning down and placing a gentle kiss on his slightly parted lips. To say that Severus was stunned, was a grave understatement, and he did not understand women at all. He supposed that the generosity of women, would never cease to amaze him.

**TBC...**

**A/N:** Sorry about taking so long to update. Unfortunately I only wrote one chapter over break, but I did work on the dueling competition and got a better handle on whats going to happen then. Thanks to all of you for being so understanding and for reviewing and thanks for all the new reviewers, I'm glad that you enjoy my story. I will try to update soon.

Please Review!


	74. Preliminaries Begin

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 74: Preliminaries Begin**_

Severus was quite relieved that January had finally passed and that the storm that Samara and his relationship was going through passed with it. Things seemed to settle to normal, but considering that had been the case many times before, Severus was still wary. Notices went out that on the first Saturday of February, preliminaries for the Dueling Competition would start. Posted in every common room and almost every classroom was a notice stating that 8 kids were chose from each house and that the Preliminaries would pick out a representative for each house.

It seemed as though the whole school turned up for the Preliminaries that day, including several more teachers. Severus wasn't too interested in seeing them, but he had to be there as co-sponsor. On the first day, there would be six matches, all Hufflepuffs. It confused a lot of students, considering that there were 8 people picked from each House, but Pandora explained that on the last day of preliminaries, all the finalist would fight and the representative from each house would be picked.

Severus wasn't very surprised by the eight Hufflepuffs that were chosen, as to him they seemed the only competent students. Two of them were Prefects and several of them were on the Quidditch team, and he wasn't too surprised that for the most part they were mainly girls. He was really quite bored with the ten minute matches, in which the first round, four people were eliminated, leaving only four students, all of which happened to be girls and only one of the Prefects seemed to make it. The other three were the Keeper, and the two beaters of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. Not too surprising as they had the best reflexes.

Turning away, quite bored as the second rounds started, Severus surveyed the busy hall. He and the other Professors were privilege to have a scaffold to stand on where they could watch the entire hall, including the matches from above. It had taken quite a bit of magic to make it, but it was worth it as they could perfectly see down on the dais were the matches were occurring and survey the rest of the hall as well, having almost a bird's eye view of the entire Great Hall.

As there was only the dueling on stage going on, the rest of the Prefects and both Head Girl and Boy were at liberty to just watch along with the rest of the students. Gazing around the hall, it didn't take very long for Severus to spot Samara, standing with Timothy, Nate and Ethan. Nate didn't seem particularly happy as he watched the Duelers with his arms crossed over his chest and it seemed to Severus as though Ethan were making fun of him. However, he didn't care for them as all he had eyes for were Samara. She too had her arms crossed over her chest, however, he noted the look on her face was far more serious and that she was watching the matches with a hawk-like gaze. It made him wonder why she was so serious today. He wondered if like him she was thinking of a better way she could spend her Saturday.

Turning away from Samara, Severus looked over at his colleagues who were all staring down at the match that was about to begin. Turning away, Severus stared down at Pandora who was once more going over the rules of each match, stating that it was on a point system in which she decided who would pass, the whole judges thing was reserved for the matches with the representatives for each House. Severus wasn't pleased about that as he was made aware that the four Heads of House and Dumbledore were to be the judges for it. He didn't have a choice in the matter as all the other teachers had hardily consented to it before he'd been made aware of the situation.

Severus watched at the first match of the second rounds started. It was the two beaters, both very thin and tall girls, Ashley Wilson and Tamara Harris. Ashley, whom was a seventh year was the girl with auburn curls and tiny freckles. Severus had never thought much of her as a student, but then again he supposed that was because she was never particularly good in Potions and stopped taking it after her fifth year. As for Tamara Harris, who was a sixth year, she had short brow hair that reached her chin and bright honey-colored eyes. She'd always had such a fierce expression on her face and right from the beginning of the match, it seemed that she was determined to win. However, as the match progressed it became apparent that she didn't have much of a chance against Ashley, because Ashley was quite good with spells.

Clapping sarcastically, Severus watched with disdain as Ashley Wilson was proclaimed the winner. He'd have preferred Tamara if only for the simple fact that she was better at potions. Turning away from the match, which were only ten minutes long as they were only preliminaries, Severus looked over at Samara, who was clapping along with the rest of the students and watching anxiously for the next match. She seemed much more interested in this than many other students.

So far, most of the matches had been going well. Although, one of the Hufflepuffs in the first match had to be sent to the Hospital wing with minor injuries and by the end, several of the students came out with a couple of scratches of limping. However, Severus supposed that all the matches were quite tamed and watching the excitement of everyone else in the hall, Severus had to admit that it was quite a good idea on Samara's part. Turning back to the current match, Severus thought that he really should appreciate Samara's idea a bit more. However, he'd never found Duel's too interesting. At least, not to watch. Unless the person dueling were someone he hated and were on the losing end of things.

"Do you know what students will be participating from you house?" McGonagall asked as she stepped up next to him. Severus turned to look at her and stared at the Head og Gryffindor for a moment before turning back to the match.

"Haven't a clue," he replied dryly as he watched one of the Hufflepuffs flip backwards. Apparently the Prefect was much better with their aim than the Keeper of Hufflepuff. Severus wondered as he watched the Keeper straightening up how it was possible that she had not been able to deflect the spell, or at the very least duck. However, he had to admit that Pamela Grisham's aim was superb. He found it amazing that the tiny little Prefect was beating the seventh year. "Your House?"

"Eric Williamson, Angel Lewis, Melanie Smith, Stephanie Gray, Mike Meyers, Bill Weasley, Terrence Dobbin and Tara Heart," McGonagall replied. Severus mouth became a thin line. Most of them were on the Quidditch team.The three girls along with Williamson were all seventh years, Meyers and Weasley were the only fifth years. Severus supposed, as he watched the match that he shouldn't be very surprised by the fact that both Williamson and Weasley were going to participate.

"Who do you suppose she will pick from this match?" McGonagall asked.

"Pamela Grisham," Severus replied simply. McGonagall nodded at this. It was quite obvious, as they watched Pamela duck down that she was faring better. Severus cast a glance at the athletic, brunette Keeper of Hufflepuff. Her curls were a tangled mess, as she had not bothered to tie up her hair and she was sporting a rather nasty busted lip. Severus supposed that as soon as the match was over that she would need to have that patched up along with the rip on the hem of her robes. "This is a bit barbaric, don't you think?" Severus asked, thinking about muggle sports such as boxing, wrestling and American football and thinking about how people enjoyed to watch violence.

"Its not like they are killing each other," McGonagall replied in amusement as she cast a glance at him. Severus didn't reply as Pandora called time for the match. Turning to look at the strawberry-blonde, Severus watched her as she came to stand before the two. She had all her hair tied up in a very long ponytail. For the first time since he'd started working with her, Severus saw Pandora in something other than her robes as she seemed to be wearing a pair of jeans and a white turtleneck. It was very strange to see her in muggle clothing, but Severus supposed that it was merely because she'd never worn muggle clothing before.

"The winner is, Pamela Grisham," Pandora said with a congratulatory smile at Pamela as she motioned for the two girls that were just finished dueling to shake hands. Severus watched as the two girls moved towards each other to shake hands. "All right, well I think that is all for today. The two finalist for the Hufflepuff representatives are Pamela Grisham and Ashley Wilson. On the 21st, we shall pick out the finalist for Ravenclaw. Thank you all for attending," Pandora announced clearly to the rest of the hall.

It was quite some time before the hall cleared out as it was abuzz with the events of the matches and everyone congratulating the two finalists. Severus wasn't at all interested in any of this and with the aid of Flitwick, they both lowered the scaffold to the now empty stage, where it disappeared and the teachers were free to climb down from the dais. Once the Professors started to make their way through the crowds, the Great Hall started to clear out, and Severus looked around and raised a brow as he spotted Samara being shaken out of her reverie by Ethan. It made him wonder why she was so out of it.

"That went well, don't you think?" Pandora asked as she stepped up beside him. Severus merely nodded at this as he looked at her. "Will you be chaperoning the ball next week?" Severus head snapped over to Pandora and he looked at her in horror. Pandora furrowed her brow at this. "Weren't you told that this year Professor Dumbledore decided to throw a Valentines Day ball, as it happened to fall on a Saturday?" Pandora asked as she looked at him.

Severus grit his teeth. "No I had not," he said angrily as he scowled over towards were he saw the Headmaster speaking to Flitwick. Was it just him, or were all the Professors keeping him out of the loop? Or had he been that involved in all the problems that he was having with Samara recently that he had completely missed all thses notices that everyone but him seemed to be getting? However, thinking about it rationally, he supposed that it probably was mainly due to how involved he'd become with his and Samara's problems.

"Well, Professor Dumbledore made the decision hastily when he received news of a special visitor or something. He was going to put up the notices this weekend. The ball will start in the evening as is due to end at midnight. Only fourth years and above will be allowed to attend," Pandora said as she looked into his eyes. "He was quite adamant about the Prefects and everyone attending."

Grimacing at this, Severus looked around at the considerably emptier hall and once more spotted Dumbledore, who was handing something to the Head Boy and Girl. Severus felt his stomach tighten and churn. A Valentine's Day dance meant that the students would be going partnered up. Severus pinched the bridge of his nose at the thought. Samara was Head Girl, she would be expected to have a date and if she didn't show up with one it would seem quite strange, considering she was very easily like-able. It would seem quite unorthodox for a teenage girl, whom as far everyone was concerned, had never been with a boy, turned up dateless for a dance when she was perfectly capable of attaining a date. Which meant if they were going to keep up appearances, Severus would have to see her on the arm of some pimply teenager.

"Visitor?" Severus asked, turning his vexed expression to Pandora. Pandora felt her insides squirming and the look on her face made it apparent to Severus that she was regretting even mentioning the entire thing to him. However, she nodded her head in response as she looked at him. She tried her best to smile, though severus could see it falter and the look of nervousness in her eyes, like he was about to bite her head of or something. In all probability, Severus thought that idea wasn't far-fetched. He was feeling particularly murderous at the moment, and as she was the bearer of bad news...

"A revered friend of Professor Dumbledores. He says she has always enjoyed these sort of meetings and that Valentines is one of her favorite holidays. He said it appeals to her romantic side," Pandora said with a light shrug and an airy laugh. Severus felt his eye twitch, but he did not say anything as he watched Samara and Andrew approach a couple of Prefects that were lingering about and handing them the notices to put up in their common room, before they all exited the hall. Severus almost groaned in the horror of it all.

"Excuse me," he said as he marched away and headed out of the Great Hall, where he caught up to Samara in a more isolated hallway. "I suppose you have figured that you are going to have to attend with someone?" Severus said through gritted teeth as he pulled her into a classroom. Samara looked at him and her eyes said everything. Of course she already knew, but she didn't seem anymore pleased by the idea then he did. "I want to know who, the moment that you know and if he so much as lays a finger on you I will removed every digit from his hand," Severus said, standing very close to Samara and glaring down into her eyes before turning on his hell and heading towards the door.

"Severus," Severus stopped at the door, but did not turn to look at Samara. Instead he gritted his teeth as he clutched onto the doorknob tightly. "This wasn't my fault or what I want," she said.

"I know," Severus said, opening the door and slamming it shut behind him. It seemed like he would never get a moments peace.

**TBC...**

**A/N:**Sorry about the long wait, especially as this chapter doesn't feel like it is up to par. But the next one should be a bit longer and probably more interesting.


	75. BloodyStupidValentines Day

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 75: Bloody-Stupid-Valentines Day**_

Severus found the week leading up to the Valentines Day Ball, disappear quite quickly as he awaited anxiously day by day for Samara to bring him news of who she would be attending with. It seemed the entire week that Samara was deliberately trying to avoid him, and Severus allowed it mainly because he really didn't want to know and didn't want them to be fighting the entire time. However, throughout the whole week he found that he could think of nothing else but the stupid ball, and it didn't help any that all the students were in an uproar about the whole thing.

When Friday at last arrived and Samara stepped into his office after dinner, he supposed the moment of truth had at last come. "Well?" Severus asked, not bothering to look up from the essays he was trying so desperately hard to concentrate on. The fact of the matter was, that he was very aware that the following day would be Valentines Day. He was so aware of it that he was punishing students left and right. Although, seeing as he was almost always in a bad mood around this time of year, it was really nothing new. He just really hated the holiday with all his might. Something that he didn't think would ever change.

"I was asked by Timothy, Eric and Bill," Samara said as she leaned against the doorway, clearly afraid of his reaction and wanted to keep her distance. Severus grit his teeth together. He wasn't very surprised by the people that had asked her as he already knew that all three boys liked her. However, he wasn't pleased about the idea of her going anywhere with any of them. While once he wouldn't have seen Timothy as a threat to his and Samara's relationship, he did now see him as a very real threat to her well-being. He didn't think that the boy was all that in control of himself.

"And?" Severus asked impatiently as he continued to work on the essay he was grading. He realized that he was grading the paper much harshly than usual and that the Ravenclaw whose paper it was was going to be really upset. However, as he dipped his quill into the red ink and continued to write, he only felt his anger mounting to see his writing in red. Honestly, everything was being a constant reminder of the commercial holiday that would be taking place the following day.

Any other year, Severus would have been pleased about the fact that Valentines fell on a weekend, because that meant he wouldn't have to deal with it as much. However, he wasn't pleased about it this year because of the stupid ball. "Well..." he heard Samara hesitate. "I told Bill we could go... as friends," Samara replied. Severus paused in his writing, allowing the quill to bleed on the essay before removing it and looking up at Samara.

He stared at her face, which looked nervous and her eyes were watching him very attentively, clearly gauging him for his reactions. Severus placed the quill down before he snapped it and tried to maintain his control. The fact that she was going with an ex-boyfriend was not an idea too pleasing to him, especially as she had dated him twice, which clearly meant that she liked the boy a lot. "Why Weasley?" Severus asked as he raised a brow at her, his voice trembling with his restrained anger. Not quite as restrained as he would have liked, considering the tremble of it in his voice.

"Because both Tim and Eric will think we're together if I'd said yes to them. But Bill and I are friends and I made it quite clear to him that I'd go as his friend and he said he was fine with that," Samara said gently.

"Of course he said he was fine with it, so long as you are still there with him," Severus said irritably. Samara grimaced and tried to make an attempt to step closer to him. "DON'T," Severus snapped loudly, causing Samara to jump back in fright and bang against the door at her back. Severus closed his eyes shut tight and stared down at his desk. "Samara... its not a good time."

"You're not in this relationship by yourself Severus, I'm not pleased about this situation either. Do you think that I want to spend such a long night away from you?" Samara asked as she looked at him. "Stop biting my head off every time something goes wrong that was not at all my fault! You know that nothing is going to happen between me and Bill. Why are you so threatened by him?"

Severus didn't very much like having his insecurities pointed out to him so blatantly and he looked up and glared at her. She had her eyes narrowed at him, and the tone in her voice spoke volumes of the irritation and anger that she felt. However, he didn't care for any of that at the moment. The blood in his veins had turned to ice, freezing over his heart with cold fury, the type that usually led to trouble. "You dated him Samara, twice! How do you expect me to act? You had a relationship with the boy, which clearly meant you held him in higher regards than a mere friends," Severus replied through clenched teeth in something barely above a whisper.

"_Held_, Severus, its past tense," Samara said in exasperation as she got off the door and took steps closer, her anger making her bold and forget the fear that she'd just had of him. "There is nothing gong on between us, those feelings evaporated long before the night you and I came across Erised. And do you not remember what I said to you then?" she asked. Severus merely nodded in response, of course he remembered what she said, how could he ever forget it? "You are my sun, no other star in the sky can compare to you," she said, her voice becoming more gentle as she recalled that night while she stared across the room at him. Severus took in a deep breath as he remembered that night clearly in his minds eyes, her exact words running through his mind.

"Your feelings changing do nothing to change his," Severus said after a moments thought. He looked away from Samara and stared at the papers on his desk. He really couldn't bare to look at Samara as he realized just how insecure he probably sounded. His face felt like it suddenly flushed and he cursed himself for being insecure. However, it didn't make any of the anger or jealousy inside his chest disappear. In fact, he felt it swell more with his bruised pride. Gritting his teeth, he glared down at the papers and wondered what type of torturous night tomorrow night would be.

"Bill is a gentleman, he won't try anything without my consent and I made it abundantly clear to him that we will be going as friends, now unless you think that I would consent to doing something despite my love for you, than you have nothing to worry about," Samara said as she looked over at him. She was unsure whether it was a good idea to approach him at the moment or not. While she was sure that he would never do anything to intentionally hurt her and therefore was not afraid of him, she didn't think that it was very wise to approach him at the moment. Besides, he was a rather unseemly shade of red, which couldn't be a very good indication. However, Samara herself was getting a little upset about the fact that she was yet unable to quell his unease when it seemed so simple on other occasions.Realizing that she was at a loss and supposing that he would probably get over it after the Ball, she decided that it was for the best that she take her leave. "Sevy, I will see you tomorrow and please remember, I love you more than anything."

Severus looked up and watched Samara turn to walk out and as the door closed behind her, he whispered his love in return.

---

The following day was torture to Severus. It was a rather uneventful day for the most part as he spent it stalking the corridors in the morning. When he realized that there weren't enough students in the castle to terrorize because they were all mostly in Hogsmead, he decided to head into his office and work on some potions that needed replacing in the Hospital wing. He had no desire to head down to Hogsmead, because he was sure that it was far more likely to be obnoxiously red and pink than the castle was becoming. Honestly, he was glad to escape all the frilly, pink hearts and other decorations and refuge himself in the darkness of the Dungeons. Even though some of them could be quite damp and therefore far more horrible in winter.

He worked on hours without end, and by the time that he was finished with the list, he realized that the ball was due to begin shortly. Gritting his teeth, Severus looked down at himself and wondered for a moment whether it was really worth it to change his robes. He was wearing a plain set of black, work robes. Grimacing, he supposed that it really would be for the best for him to change into something more suitable for the ball, though he had no desire to attend and would probably be quite upset to go to. However, bearing in mind that Hogwarts was having a mysterious and very esteemed visitor, Severus thought that it really was for the best to change into something more suitable.

Waving his wand and doing away with the mundane task of straightening up after himself, all the potions he was working on phialed themselves in a small case, while the cauldron cleared itself and his itself in one of the cupboards. Turning away from his handy-work, he quickly strode out of his office, locking it behind him and made his way over to his rooms. It didn't take him very long to navigate through the winding passaged to his private quarters and he wasn't surprised that he ran into no students. He assumed that by this time everyone had returned to their dormitories to get changed and ready for the dance, or were already waiting outside of the Great Hall doors. His mind thought viciously of the evil little runts and tried to steer clear of thinking of Samara and the fact that she would be attending the Ball with a certain red head ex of hers.

Stepping into his room, Severus paused as he stood in the doorway and stared with an arch brow at the coffee table, on which there sat a particular parcel. Closing the door behind himself, Severus stepped into the room and stood over the parcel and stared at the letter attached to the top. His name was written neatly on the envelope and he immediately recognized the fact that it was Samara's handwriting. Not the neatest, prettiest of girly writing, but when written carefully could pass off as something quite nice. Unfortunately, Samara thought fast and therefore wrote her essays accordingly and often her writing seemed illegible. Not too surprising considering most Healers he'd ever met had illegible, scribbles that they tried to pass off for manuscript. It was something that greatly had annoyed him when she was younger, but as time passed on he seemed to find it endearing. He supposed her thoughts were so frazzled, her mind had a hard time keeping up with a particular train of thought.

Opening the letter, Severus supposed that whatever this was, she had dropped it off at some point earlier on in the day. He was unaware of what time that had been, considering the fact that he had not been in his private quarters for the entirety of the day. It made him wonder as to why she would drop it off here, instead of personally giving it to him. However, he didn't have to wonder too long why that was. after the previous week and the way that he had been acting, he wasn't surprised that she would want to avoid him today of all days.

_To the love of my life, Severus,  
_

_Wear this to the ball. I bought them both only for your benefit. When you see me, you may understand what I mean. _

_With all my love,  
Samara Green_

_P.S. Oh yeah, Happy Valentines Day!_

Severus blinked at the tiny note and a rare smile broke out onto his face, that would not have occurred if anyone were present. He assumed that was one of the shortest messages that she had ever sent, and as always it seemed that Samara added the reason for the writing till the end. Severus sighed as he sat down in front of the couch and opened the box, slightly confused by the gift that she had given him. For his birthday and Christmas present, which she had given to him days after his birthday, were pretty practical and something he very much enjoyed, especially as it meant that she was really listening to him when he was speaking. However, as he reached forward and pulled out the seemingly black cloth, he wondered why it was that she was giving him robes.

Over the years, he of course had come to notice that Samara was very fond of her robes, as she seemed to have many of them. He supposed that her mother particularly doted on her when it came to wizarding robes. Although she did seem to have quite an extensive muggle wardrobe was well, but this was besides the point. He supposed that Samara really had quite the impeccable taste in robes, as she always looked lovely in the robes she wore, for though they were relatively simple, they were elegant and beautiful. Yet, despite that he had no idea why she would give him robes, when all of his were black and the occasional dark green one here and there, and they were all mostly work robes. He did have a pair here of there of black dress robes, but not very many and he did not wear them often.

For a long moment, Severus stared at the black robes in befuddlement, before truly studying them. After staring at the relatively simple dress robes, with silver clasps and cuffs, embroidered in simple tribal designs, he realized that the robes themselves were not black. The green they were was so dark, that they only appeared to be black, and when they caught the light in a very particular way, Severus could have sworn he had seen a shimmer of green, much like that on Samara's wand, appear across the chest of the robes. Severus raised a brow and thought that they were quite nice, especially as that shimmer seemed very subtle that it was hardly even noticeable. And unless you were looking quite closely at the robes, you would not know that they were not in fact black. And to his delight, Samara always kept in mind her House colors.

---

Spotting Samara was none too difficult. He knew he'd seen her the second that he laid his eyes on the back of her head in the Great Hall, sans Weasley as he was performing Prefects duties along with everyone else to ensure that the entrance into the Great Hall ran smoothly. Despite the fact that her hair tied up in a fancy hairdo, held in place with silver pins in shapes of Snakes, lose tendrils falling down, he knew he was staring at her. He didn't need to see her pretty face to know it was her, though it was quite a delight to see her face, despite the vexed look on it as she tried to get a couple of fourth years to settle down into their seats. Her face seemed to shimmer in light silver of a glamour charm, and her ruby red lips stood out very solidly against her creamy skin. Her eyes, seemed to be coated in blackish-emerald eye liner and mascara that sparkled and made her eyes seem emerald instead of their usual hazel.

Her robes were made of the finest silver silk, and clung quite nicely to her upper-body, though at the very same time was conservative in the traditional sense. Her robes were sleeveless, and the neckline was a wide arc, though did not even reveal any cleavage. Over her robes, she wore a very light black cloak, but after staring at it for a moment, Severus realized that the cloak she wore was actually dark green and it too shone in the way that his robes did when they caught the light. The clasp that held the cloak to the inch-thick straps of her robes, were much like the the silver clasps that ran from his neck down to the hemline of his robes, hardly noticeable unless you were truly paying attention.

Around her waistline, a tribal design, identical to that on the cuffs of his robes, was embroidered in the same material of her cloak and the skirt flared out ever so slightly beneath her waist. The similarities between the two robes made it easily apparent to Severus that they were matching robes. This would have greatly worried Severus, but he knew that no one else was going to pay as close attention to their robes as he was. Instead, as they all made their way around, Severus making his way to the table were most of his colleagues would be sitting at, found himself wondering why Samara had done this.

Looking around, Severus noticed that many couples were wearing matching robes, but as most of the Great Hall was dressed in either red of pink, it wasn't that hard to understand why that was. However, to him it seemed that she was particularly going through the trouble of having picked out two robes that complemented each other perfectly as they were probably made for each other. Not only that, but she had made sure to pick robes that represented Slytherin, of which he seemed to have more pride in than she did as she hardly seemed to be all that much of a Slytherin in personality. Looking around the hall, he very soon spotted Bill Weasley, and noted that he was wearing a set of plain golden dress robes and sneered at this. Samara was wearing Slytherin colors and Bill was wearing Gryffindor colors, and by this Severus was including the boys hair, which by now reached down past his shoulders and was held in a half-ponytail.Severus thought that they did not match at all and would probably be quite the eyesore standing next to each other.

Taking a seat at the table as he noted that almost everyone was settling down by now, Severus ignored who was around him to look for Samara once more and spotted her walking towards the table where the Head Boy was already taking his seat with his date. However, Samara did not sit at this table and instead chose to sit at a table much closer to that of the teachers, and Severus realized that she was wearing the music-box, necklace he had given her. It became suddenly to clear to him as she smiled to him and took her seat, that she was doing this all for him. Almost as though she were marking herself as his property, so that he knew that she wasn't forgetting that she was his, body and heart. Severus knew that this was a little sickly perverted, and very possessive, but he couldn't deny the fact that he was greatly pleased by it and he couldn't help but allow a smug smile of satisfaction slip over his face.

"What are you all smug about?" Severus turned around and looked at Aurora as she took a seat next to him. Severus looked at her with the smug smile as he stared at the dress-robes that she was wearing. He wasn't greatly surprised that she had opted for a pair of navy blue robes that had sparkles on them that shined like the stars.

"At how predictable your robes are," he said smugly as he looked into her eyes. Aurora scoffed at him as she turned away, clearly vexed already about something or other. Severus had no idea how Aurora could possibly be more annoyed than he was at the current moment, considering he was the one who's partner was there with someone else and considering it was so early in the evening for Aurora to be peeved about something. However, as he looked up and watched Pandora sit across from them with Dumbledore and his old school chum, who unsurprisingly was only Slughorn and someone else whom Severus had not met, he understood what was wrong with Aurora. The robes that Professor Cross was wearing, were very much like the ones that Aurora had on, though a little more on the revealing side considering the low v-neck.

Severus was very bored as he exchanged pleasantries with his old Head of House and was introduced to Elphias Dodge, Dumbledore's special guest for the evening. It wasn't because Severus was being rude, for he did focus as much attention as was needed on the topic at hand, but for the most part of the meal he pretended to be watching the great hall like a hawk waiting to catch a wrong-doing student, though for the most part he was only really paying attention to Samara and Bill Weasley. From where he sat and where Samara had chosen to sit, he had a very clear view of what she and Bill were doing for the most part of the evening and he was quite pleased to see that Bill was keeping his hands to himself at all times, and that for the most part they were only talking to each other.

Though, that _did_ bother him slightly, but Samara kept doing something that constantly reassured him. Anytime that she was giving Bill her attention, nodding at something or other that he was saying, one of her hands held onto the necklace that he had given her, fingering the intricate design on the hearts surface, her eyes sparkling with a somewhat far-away look. It gave Severus to understand that while she was listening to Bill and physically there with him, that somewhere Samara was not there at all. That in fact, all her thoughts were straying to Severus. It made Severus understand why Samara was wearing it over her robes, as while Samara always wore that particular chain, she always had it hidden beneath her robe, as though it were he secret heart that she didn't want anyone to see.

His attentions were so wrapped up in Samara that he hardly took much notice of the vexingly red and pink Great Hall. Of course, all the house tables and the Hight table had been disbanded and were replaced with circular tables littering the hall for students to sit at. All the tables were covered in red cloths and the napkins were all made of white linen. The tables were lit up by tall, red and white candles and adorned with small center pieces of red, white and pink roses. Little cherub angels had been conjured up in the air overhead, that actually shot little arrows that constantly streaked through the air in soft flashes of red or pink lights, often aimed at students and passing through them. It was quite a strange sensation to be "hit" with one of these arrows, for while you didn't feel anything physically, you would feel waves of warmth spread through your insides as the arrow passed through you. The candles that floated over head and lite up the hall dimly and some would say romantically, were all pink and the flames sent up white puffs of smoke that all strikingly resembled hearts.

The dais where the high table was usually poised was currently was set up for some band or other to perform for the students, and when the dreaded time for dancing at last came, most of the tables were shoved against the walls to create a dance floor. Severus stuck nearby Slughorn, for he knew the man would not participate in dancing and was more interested in hearing about the students that were currently in Slytherin. Pandora seemed quite interested in speaking to Albus, Minerva and Elphias Dodge, and was as amused as Minerva by a story that Elphias was telling them about. Aurora on the other hand had decided to try and get rid of her foul mood and was currently walking around, talking to students here and there and he noted her being asked by one of the Ravenclaw seventh years to dance. An amusing sight as he never thought Aurora was quite comfortable with dancing.

Of course, while he noticed all this, he kept a watchful gaze on Samara and Bill, who had remained standing nearby to where he stood on the edge of the dance floor, were many couples were already dancing to what seemed to be a very popular band at the moment. He watched Samara and Bill talking and having some punch while staring at the dance floor, and amusing themselves by watching their classmates dancing. He took notice that very many of the Slytherins that passed Samara up as they walked by, were not at all pleased to see that she was there with a Gryffindor. Even Ethan, Nate and it seemed especially Tim, were quite angry about it as they were glaring over at the oblivious duo. And the Slytherins weren't the only ones upset, for it seemed that many Gryffindor girls were glaring over in disapproval and perhaps jealousy. The only Gryffindor male that did not seemed impressed by the fact that a mere fifth-year had managed to snag the Head Girl for a date seemed to be Eric Williamson, though he was not glaring. Actually he seemed a bit upset or put-out, which in turn angered his date and caused her to glare at Samara all the more vehemently.

All in all, they were upsetting a great deal of people, for if it wasn't a Slytherin or a Gryffindor that was upset about it, then it was someone who was jealous of either of the pair, which in that case caused their partner to be angry and upset about them. Severus frowned as he watched the oblivious pair, both smiling at each other while talking, Samara's hands constantly playing with the necklace that she wore. He hoped that no one was going to do something that would cause any undo mayhem. However, sometimes when you fear something, you cause it to come up.

As time continued to pass, Severus noted that instead of dancing, Samara and Bill seemed quite content to continue to drink punch and stand at the edge of the dance floor, talking. He noted that the more time that they talked, the close they seemed to stand and laugh. Samara's eyes started to shine and steadily she stopped touching her necklace and her cheeks began to flush. Her eyes and that of the Weasley seemed to shine so much brighter as they laughed pleasantly and the more that Severus watched, the sicker that he became. If it were not for Slughorn saying that he was parched and walking away to the refreshment table, Severus was quite sure he would have ended up walking over to the pain and strangling the kid.

However, as Slughorn served himself something to drink, he found himself grimacing as Samara approached the table, holding onto Bill's arm. "Hello Professor Snape," Samara said pleasantly as she turned to look at Severus. Severus merely nodded in response as he turned to glare at Bill who had muttered a polite hello to the Head of Slytherin. Both teenagers still appeared to be quite flushed and seemed to be trying to recover their regular breathing from all the laughing that they'd been doing. Despite himself, Severus couldn't help but notice how beautiful Samara looked, with her face so rosy, her lips so pouty and her bright smile and just as bright eyes. "Professor Slughorn."

"Samara, what a pleasant surprise to see you again. How you've grown! And Head Girl! Congratulations, you were always a bright student," Slughorn said gushingly, ignoring his drink for the moment, and causing Samara to blush further. Severus, pushed aside his jealousy and did some Occlumency exercises to get ride of the nasty anger and jealousy that swelled inside of him. Instead, he thought about Slughorn remembering Samara. He wasn't too surprised that Slughorn would recognize Samara, despite the fact that she was eleven or twelve when he had last seen her. Slughorn had a good memory when it came to students that particularly excelled in his class, for he wanted to keep an eye on them to see if they were worth being inducted into the Slug club for him to nourish. Samara definitely had to be one of those students as when he had first started to teach Potions, he'd noted that the young Miss Green seemed to be far ahead than most of her classmates in Potions.

"Thank you Professor Slughorn," Samara said with a smile as she looked at her old Head of House. She had always been quite fond of him, even though he could be quite rude. She supposed it had a lot to do with the fact that he didn't have the heart to discipline most of the Slytherins, which was different from Severus. While Severus favored Slytherins and rarely ever took points away from them, he had no qualms with assigning them with detentions when he felt that they needed to be taught a lesson on how not to disgrace the House that they were representing.

"Sometimes I wish I had not yet retired just yet," Slughorn said as he smiled to her. Samara smiled in turn. Severus noted that as Bill was being ignored he'd decided to go on and poor drinks so that he didn't feel so awkward just standing there.

"Yes, I was sad when I heard you were retiring, but Professor Snape is an excellent Potions Master and Head of House," Samara said as she looked towards Severus and smiled at him. Severus felt the corner of his mouth tug upwards in a one-sided sneer of satisfaction, having successfully forgotten being upset for the moment. However he quickly hid it as Slughorn turned to him and wrapped a heavy arm around Severus, causing him to used all his strength to keep from grimacing at this; it was rather uncomfortable to Severus, especially as he was so much taller than his old Head of House. That was not to mention the fact that Severus hated to be touched.

"Of course he is. Severus was an excellent student," Slughorn said, causing Severus to turn slightly red. He grimaced as Bill and Samara both turned to look at him surprised and it made him wonder at it. What was so surprising about the fact that Slughorn was his professor? Slughorn had been working at Hogwarts for many years and as he was still teaching there when Samara first started, and Severus was only ten years older than her, so it was only logical that Severus would have had him as his Professor. Being vexed by this, Severus glared over at the gaping Weasley boy.

"What are you staring at Weasley?" he said irritably. Bill merely shook his head and looked away, causing a sympathetic look to cross Samara's face and her smile to falter slightly. He turned to Samara just in time to see the brief reprimanding look that she shot at him before turning a smile towards Slughorn.

"Well it's very nice to see you again Professor," Samara said as she smiled at him. Slughorn merely nodded and allowed Samara and Weasley to slip away, Bill handing her her drink as they walked. Severus felt all the anger, jealousy and a slight pang return to see them depart. He couldn't tear his eyes away from them as he watched them disappear in the crowd of students and Severus felt sickened to see how friendly students were getting with each other. Gritting his teeth together, Severus closed his eyes and took a deep and calming breath, trying to clear his mind of all thoughts and emotions as he exhaled.

"Strange, I've never tasted punch that smells like grass," Severus turned to look over at Slughorn who was smelling his drink before he took a sip. Severus narrowed his eyes as he turned to look at the punch bowl. Very weak wisps of steam seemed to be trying to spiral over the somewhat pearly sheen of red juice. Before Professor Slughorn could actually take a sip of his drink, Severus snatched away the cup rudely and smelled it. "My boy, what are you-"

"Someone spiked the punch with a rather weak Amortentia," Severus said through gritted teeth as he realized that cup of punch smelled a lot like Samara. His nostrils were overwhelmed with the smell or Pomegranates. "Must be diluted because of the amount of punch there is," Severus went on as he studied the weakness of the steam.Severus looked up and around the Great Hall, wondering how long the punch had been spiked for and how many students had consumed it since it was spiked. His stomach tightened at the thought that Samara and Weasley had both just walked away with another cup of punch and he thought about how strong Amortentia could be despite being diluted.

"Well, I can't imagine to much damage has been done," Severus turned to his old head of House who always took these kinds of things rather lightly and actually probably found them rather amusing. However, he did note that Slughorn got rid of the remaining punch in the bowl and performed scroufigy on it to eliminate any remnants of the potion. "I imagine, given the weakness of the steam, that the effects of the potion should wear of in a mere couple hours for anyone who has taken it and that the effects should not be too great," Slughorn said with a smile as he turned to Severus.

Severus merely nodded at this in response, however, quickly excused himself and walked away. He made his way around the entire Great Hall twice, looking for Samara and could not spot her, or the Weasley boy for that matter, anywhere! His stomach tightened and flipped as he thought about how they could be absolutely anywhere and thought about how many cups he had seen Samara drink of punch. He was quite sure that he had counted correctly and she had to have drank at the very least 4 cups, and if the punch had been spiked from the very moment that the dance started, he imagined that at least three of those cups had to be spiked and could cause more dire repercussions than Professor Slughorn would anticipate and considering Amortentia was more of a love-the-one-your-with type of potion, he was rather worried of what it might make Samara do.

Thinking that perhaps they had stepped out of the Great Hall and were simply lounging about in a hallway, Severus hastily exited the hall. The entrance hall was eerily quiet in comparison to the Great Hall and was dimly lit, making it a little difficult to look down the far ends of the hall in both directions. However, he had pretty sharp eye-sight, and he could not detect any shapes that would give away their position.Severus groaned as he stalked down the hall, thinking it was too cold out for the two teenagers to want to head outside. Therefore, he supposed that it would be logical for them to have taken to a classroom, for he highly doubted that given the fact that they both had consumed the spiked punch and the fact that it was only eight in the evening, that either one of them wanted to return to their dorms. Though the idea of what they might do in a classroommade every muscled in his body clench along with his fist.

Therefore, Severus quickly made his way through the halls, checking any alcoves and classrooms as he walked until at last he came across an empty classroom from which he could hear a small amount of noise. Severus stomach clenched as he opened the door apprehensively and looked into the dark classroom. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the lack of light in the classroom, but his eyes were immediately drawn to two figures on a nearby desk. Once his eyes had properly adjusted, Severus could see that Weasley was standing before a table on which Samara was seated, his torso between her parted legs. While one of his hands was lost in the now disarrayed tresses of her hair, the other seemed to be pushing up the hem of her skirt while both teenagers had all their senses enthralled with the passionate kiss they were caught up in. With a sharp pang, Severus realized that Samara's little hands were grasping onto Weasley's robes and seemed to be pressing him as close to her as she possibly could, her knees hooking onto his hips and her legs practically wrapped around his calves.

For a moment, Severus was so torn by the pain that he didn't know how to react. It seemed that the only senses that were functioning correctly was his eye-sight, and despite the rushing of his blood in his ears, he could hear the moans of the teenagers who clearly had all their sense too muddled to realize that someone else was in the room. Suddenly, angel started to pour into every inch of Severus, washing away the pain that he felt for the moment and leaving him shaking in fury. If it weren't for the little voice in his head that told him that they were both under the effects of a love-potion, Severus might have gone on a murdering rampage there and now. However, calling up all his mastery of Occlumency, Severus forced the pain and anger away and tried to remain objective.

Silently, he crept over to the two teenagers and wrenched them apart, thoroughly surprising them. However, he ignored their grumbled complains and dragged them out of the classroom and down to the dungeons by the scruff of their necks. It would be a complete waste of his time to try and reason with the both of them as they were under the influence of the potion and would probably spew nothing but their undying love for each other. Severus didn't want to listen to such nonsense and wanted to get this whole ordeal over with as soon as was possible, which meant he should give them the antidote very soon.

He dragged them down the stairs towards the dungeons, silently wondering to himself about the pain and anger he felt to see Samara kissing someone else. He knew that if she weren't under the influence of the potion, that she would have never done such a thing, and knowing the Weasley boy to be such a gentlemen, he knew that he wouldn't have tried anything either. However, still he could not help but fel that irrational pain of betrayal and anger. It was so agonizingly intense, he was unsure of how he managed to keep any tears that may have come at bay. It made him wonder if this was the way that Samara had felt when he told her about what he had done with Cross.

At the time, both he and Cross were under the influence of alcohol, which he assumed was more or less the same as Samara and Bill. However, he knew what he had done was a million times worse, because he and Cross had engaged in oral sex, while the two teenagers had simply been making out. To top everything off, he woken up and realized that what he was doing was wrong, but he had allowed it until he was satisfied. What he had done was certainly worse and therefore, how he had made Samara feel was probably a hundred times worse than what he was currently feeling. He realized that for him, it was completely irrational to be upset, considering that Samara and Bill were under Amortentia, which its sole purpose was to make someone feel as though they were in "love", regardless of who the person was, a person's own feelings, or how inappropriate those false feelings of love.

Therefore, under Amortentia as they were, Samara's feelings of love towards Severus had been completely repressed and her mind so clouded that all she would feel as the infatuation and desire for the Weasley boy. As they stepped into his private stores, Severus knew that what Samara was feeling was completely artificial, however, knowing that she had once been in a relationship with Weasley made him more than a little insecure. Perhaps it wasn't only the Armotentia. Perhaps Samara still had feelings for her ex-beau. He didn't know, or at least he couldn't be sure and Severus didn't think he was capable of allowing himself to blindly believe that it was only the love potion that had caused this.

Looking through the many phials and jars of potions and ingredients, Severus finally spotted what he was looking for and turned to the two teenagers that were making googly eyes at each other. Severus grit his teeth as he grabbed Samara by the wrist, none too gently and tilted her head back. Samara looked at Severus suspiciously for a moment and tried to pull away. "What's that?" she asked as she looked at him. Severus looked over at the Weasley boy and wondered what he should say that would make her and him drink it without asking any further questions.

Severus thought saying something nice would not be in his best interest, not that he could come up with anything nice to say anyway. "If you don't drink it Miss Green, Mr Weasley will be in a great deal of trouble," he growled out. Samara immediately parted her pouty, bruised lips and Severus poured some of the liquid down her throat before turning to the Weasley boy and giving him the same threat and pouring the rest of the phial down his throat. The effect on both teenagers was immediate. Suddenly the sparkle in their eyes seemed to dull, though Samara's eyes seemed to fill with tears. Both of them cast their heads down in shame as they blushed profusely. "Due to the fact that the punch was spiked with Amortentia and you had no control over your actions, I will not be punishing you for your distasteful display of affection," Severus said as he glared down at the both of them. "Now I suggest that if you do not wish me to change my mind that you get out of my sight."

Bill knew better than to test Severus' patience, so he was quick to turn to leave. However, Samara was frozen in place. When Bill noticed that Samara wasn't following along behind him, he turned around to look at her questioningly, though still unable to stop blushing. "I need to talk to Professor Snape," she said in a small voice. Bill nodded after a moment before turning around and walking away. Severus grit his teeth together as Samara slowly turned around to face him, but it seemed that she was far too ashamed to look up at him. "Severus..."

"I don't want to talk about it Samara. I don't want to know anything at all about what happened. All I want is to forget about it," Severus said as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He did want to know, but he a greater part of him knew that it was for the best not to know anything about it at all. He didn't want to torture himself that way, but picturing everything that had happened. "Go back to the Ball Samara," Severus said as he turned to look at her. She looked up at him and bit fat tears rolled down her cheeks as she stared at him with a look of pure agony that Severus couldn't bare to look at. "You were under Amortentia Samara, you don't have to explain what happened or apologize for it."

"Please Severus..."

"Just let it go Samara," Severus barked out at her. Samara jumped as her eyes lit up, an angry fired burning through the surface as her eyes narrowed at him. Wiping at the trail of tears at her cheek, Samara clenched her jaw shut.

"Fine," she said angrily as she turned on her heel and marched away. Severus slammed the door shut behind her and leaned against it, wondering how she could go from shamefully sorry to an angry teen so damn quickly. Pinching the bridge of his nose and letting out a sigh, he pushes away everything that happened and thought of the reason why. He really hated Valentines Day with all his might.

**TBC...**

**A/n: **Sorry that this chapter took me so long, but I hope that you all liked it and will review. This chapter is longer than the last and hopefully you all enjoyed it. Again, sorry to keep you guys waiting but my internet is being very unreliable at the moment. Really sorry you guys, especially Vaila as clearly you were very antsy for this.


	76. Sonnet 147

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 76: Sonnet 147**_

The following Saturday Severus found himself too distracted to be paying much attention to the Ravenclaw matches bellow. He was so distracted that he didn't even mull over the fact that Samara was mysteriously absent and as for the excited noise of the Great Hall, he'd completely blocked it out. He supposed that he wasn't missing much either way and wasn't really concerned with who the finalist for Ravenclaw would be anyway.

The week between the Valentines Ball and second day of Preliminaries had been utterly unremarkable. On Monday morning, Samara had approached him and apologized for her anger on Saturday, but she explained that it was important or her to let him know how sorry she was despite the fact that she couldn't help herself. Severus could tell by the way that she had hesitated at the end that there was more to it than she had stated; however, she merely placed a kiss on his cheek and excused herself with a smile, saying that she had a lot of work to do. After that they'd had a normal week, devoid of any arguments and yet it had also been devoid of anything of sustenance.

Severus noted that for quite sometime Samara seemed to be preoccupied. Then on Thursday she looked particularly angry, like she could kick something and when Severus asked her what was wrong, it was like she had allowed all her anger to slip away and she smiled at him lazily, saying it had been a long day. For Severus, the sudden change alarmed him. Severus knew that Samara hid all her dark feelings and let them smolder beneath her sweet and friendly disposition. However, he'd never seen her hide it so abruptly, like she was flipping a muggle switch to turn on the light.

But he did not allow this to plague him, but he did wonder slightly about it. Samara had seemed to distracted with her thoughts for days until at last she was angered beyond belief about something. Then, she was peaceful and thoughtful for the entirety of Friday and when he had seen her in the evening she looked perfectly pleased, as though she didn't have a care in the world and she had returned to her previously affectionate self and made him wonder if she where up to something.

His thoughts were disrupted before he could continue to think as he watched the first Ravenclaw match come to its conclusion and Cross proclaimed the first winner. Severus was unsurprised to see a the tall, athletic seven year Keeper proclaimed the winner. However, what he found most interesting was to see that Samara had finally made her appearance, only 12 minutes after the start of the the meet.

Severus furrowed his brow as he straightened up to see the frown on Samara's face as she hurried made her way towards were the teachers were all up on the raised scaffold over the competition. Severus raised a brow as Samara came to a stop just beneath him and looked up at him, a somewhat disturbed look on her face. Her brows were knitted in concern over her strangely sparkling hazel eyes which appeared darker than usual.

"Professor Snape, Jessica, Marietta and their dorm mates are in the Hospital wing. It seems they've all been bitten by spiders, venomous spiders. Though the venom wasn't very mature, all they've acquired are nasty rashes, and painful swellings, but Madam Pomfrey said that they should be fine by Monday when they have detoxed," Samara said as she looked up at her Head of House. "She also advised that you have their dorm searched for baby Acromantulas. She says there is an infestation of them in the forest and that some may have found their ways into the girls beds and that's why they were bitten."

Nodding, Severus thought about Acromantula's. Yes there were some inside the castle, however, they usually stayed away from people and avoided them. Severus imagined that is there were some in the girls dorms, they wouldn't bite unless they felt threatened. Severus found it plausible for all the girls to have been bitten while they were int heir sleep and knew that it wasn't very serious. However, he supposed that he should make sure that all the dorms were cleared out so that there wouldn't be any other students from his House in the Hospital wing.

"Thank you Samara," Severus said simply. Samara nodded and was about to turn away, however, when he thought of something. "Samara," he called out, causing her to stop. She seemed to turn very slowly and her brows were still deeply furrowed in concern, however, he noticed that her frown had turned into a grimace.

"Yes Professor Snape?" She asked as she turned to look at him and offer him a slight smile. Severus furrowed his brow deeper as he stared at her.

"How did you know they were in the Hospital Wing?" he asked as he stared at her.

"I was the one that found them and took them down," she said with a peculiar look on her face as she looked at him, like she thought it was a silly question. Severus raised a brow at this. How was it that she was the one that had found them? He imagined that they had still been in their dorm, but Samara didn't often go down to Slytherin anymore. What was she doing down there?

"I presume you were in Slytherin this morning then?" he asked as he stared at her. Samara shook her head and smiled up at him.

"I went to meet Nate, Ethan and Tim just before the meeting, we were going to walk here together," Samara replied. "Drake came up to me and said he was worried about Marietta who had not come down all day and neither had Jessica for that matter and he wanted me to go into their dorm and check if they were all right," Samara said. "Is there anything else Professor Snape?" she asked politely, her eyes brightening with the small knowing smile that came over her face.

"That will be all Samara," he said simply as he thought about Drake Benson, Marietta Hawthorne's boyfriend. He of course, had chose his girlfriends side when it came to the schism that had broken up that_friendship_. It made sense that he would ask the Head Girl to make sure that nothing was amiss, but as Severus watched Samara disappear into the crowd, he knew that there was more to this.

With a sigh, Severus turned away from the second match and decided that he should go down to the girls dorm now and perhaps put up a few spells to make sure something like this didn't happen again. However, as he thought of Samara and everything that had happened lately, he had the strange feeling that it wasn't a mere coincidence.

---

Severus didn't fine any Acromantulas in the girls dorms and he had thoroughly searched the rooms. Severus supposed that if there were any there, they hadn't decided to stay in the dorms after having bitten the girls, after all, Acromantula's were very capable beings, not just normal spiders. Severus still didn't think that this was coincidence and after warding Slytherin against any creature invasion, Severus headed to his office to get some work done.

He had missed the Preliminaries to go to Slytherin, however, he didn't much care about missing the events. Settling down behind his desk, he pushed away the thoughts and the nagging in his brain and settled down to grade essays, though there weren't very many. He had done a very good job at keeping up with his work that week, he supposed it was because the time he had spent with Samara in his private quarters had been conducive to work considering how thoughtful she had been.

The more he thought about it, the more he was sure that Samara was somehow connected to what happened, though he could not fathom a reason for it. Samara was not a vindictive person, and while over the year he had seen the way that Jessica and Marietta glared at Samara, they were wise enough not to dare do anything to the Head Girl. It was why Severus knew Samara couldn't have done something like this for now reason, yet everything in his mind was telling him it had to be Samara.

Yes earlier on she had looked very concerned over her House mates, but he also recognized a somewhat satisfied gleam in Samara's eyes after she had turned away from him the first time. And had she been afraid that he had caught her when he stopped her from walking away and started to ask her questions?

Of course, all her answers had been reasonable, and it made him more suspicious as it seemed far too perfect, almost like a plan. Perhaps that was what she had been preoccupied about lately, she had been making this plan to have those girls bitten by an Acromantula. Severus had to admit, to get Acromantulas to bite five girls had to be difficult, but probably not impossible. But Severus couldn't see Samara going through such trouble to do something so vindictive.

Sure, Samara was not a saint and was capable of doing things that might be considered "bad" but never had he seen her do something like that unless it were in self-defense. Like the time she had told him about the physical fight she had with her father before she was fourteen. She had first kicked him in the face, and Severus wasn't sure if that had been intentional or not, but when she had him on the floor she proceeded to kick him in the stomach while telling him to never dare place a hand on her again.

No, Samara did not hesitate to protect herself. She had shown but him and Lucius that she was no afraid of physically hurting someone in order to protect herself. He supposed that if those girls had done something to Samara that warranted something serious in turn, she would not hesitate to execute such a hurtful plan, after all, she had to be in Slytherin for a reason. Severus was unsure why still, but he knew Samara well enough that there had to be the more negative aspects of being a Slytherin inside her. It wasn't only her ambition and cunning that had gotten her into the House, after all. And had she not once stated to him that the ends always justify the means? Though she had been teasing him at the time, it was definitely a Slyterhin philosophy.

Yes, Samara was perfectly capable of doing harm, but he did not see her doing it for no reason. Perhaps in the service of someone she cared for she would, but not for no reason. Which meant, if she was behind the hospitalization of the five Slytherins girls, then they had done something to her to warrant it. But still, Samara was far too impulsive to come up with a plan of vengeance. She was in a Gryffindor in that sent that she might've just hexed them openly instead of come up wit a sneaky plan.

Then again, Samara wasn't stupid. There was a difference between being impulsive and being brash and foolish. She was Head Girl and had to set an example for the younger students and uphold the honor that her title required. That meant that if she was going to get back at someone, she was smart enough to not make it obvious or traceable back to her.

Still, despite all the mounting evidence, Severus had seen or heard of nothing that would give Samara reason to do such a thing; and Samara would need a sufficient reason to behave in something like that. It made Severus wonder with that he should do. To accuse Samara of this, even he were only accusing her would deeply offend her if she had nothing at all to do with it and it was just some strange coincidence. He couldn't imagine just asking her without any concrete evidence besides his feeling and logic. However, despite it all, he knew that his curiosity was too great to not ask. Now the only questions was, how would he ask?

---

"What are you reading?" Severus asked as he looked over at Samara the following evening when she had settled down on his couch with a book. He'd been busy watching her for quite sometime, as if he would see the answer he was looking for in her manner, however, she seemed quite peaceful; more so than she had been lately and quite engrossed in what she was reading.

Samara looked up and stared at him curiously with her big hazel eyes and smiled charmingly at him causing his heart to thump hard in his chest. He couldn't imagine accusing her, however, he needed to know why she had done it. He didn't know why he felt so sure that she had done it, but he knew that she did and to think that she had done it with no reason behind it made his heart clench in pain to think of what that might imply; that he did not know Samara at all. He knew that there was a lot to her and perhaps that he would never finish getting to know her, but to think that he didn't know her at all...

"Taking a break from all the studying. Reading some Shakespeare-" she replied as she looked at him, however, he immediately jumped in and asked why she had five Slytherin girls bitten by Acromantulas. Samara was taken aback by this and stared at him blankly for a moment, her mouth hanging open as she stared at him. She blinked a couple of times before closing her mouth and looking away from him, her face becoming quite serious. "How did you know?" she asked softly.

Severus inhaled sharply. "You're not even going to deny it?" he asked as he stared at her. Samara sighed and she looked over at him, her bright mood having dissapeared and looking a bit defeated. However, she wasn't angry and she seemed quite calm.

"I told you I would never lie to you Severus and you seem quite certain that I was behind their hospitalization, so why insult your intelligence by denying it?" Samara said softly while looking directly in his eyes. Her eyes than became something fierce. "It was their fault," she said, like a cloud rolling over her face and anger becoming easily apparent, her eyes becoming fiery.

"What was their fault?" Severus asked as he looked at her. Samara turned away from him and turned to glare at the book in her hands.

"Marietta and Jessica and all of them, their the ones that spiked the punch," she said as she turned her angry look over to him, her eyes filling with tears. Severus furrowed his brow at this, wondering how she knew, but before he could ask her she was already starting to respond to his unasked question. "Marietta and Jessica have been bidding their time to get me back for deciding not to speak to them anymore. Marietta, the stupid cow said something to Drake on Monday during dinner when I was seated one person away from them.

"She told him she was upset, that I hadn't been caught doing something unsavory during the ball and of course thats very suspicious, why would I do something unsavory?" Samara said. "So I started to poke around Slytherin and Tim told me that he has seen Jessica in the library and that she'd taken out a potions book, but Jessica doesn't take potions. Then Regina, Megan and Donna were all asking around for certain ingredients that a normal potions kit wouldn't have," Samara said, listing the other girls that shared their dorm with Marietta and Jessica.

"Its quite obvious that Marietta brewed the Amortentia, she isn't stupid and she is still taking Potions, and I did see Donna near the punch and I kept wondering why Regina kept telling me to try the punch. I'd completely forgotten that she was a Prefect and that she had high hopes of becoming Head Girl, the twit," Samara said angrily. "And I knew by thursday and I knew that there was nothing I could do about it because even if it was obvious, there is no evidence to it. It's all hearsay and no one else would believe it

"Besides, no one really knew the punch was spiked to begin with and to everyone's eyes no harm had been done," Samara said as a tear escaped her eye and raced down her cheek. She turned away from Severus and buried her face in her hands. "They deserved it for what they made me do and a little Acromantula bite and a few days in the hospital wing with a little bit of pain won't kill the five heifers. Little spoiled, rich, pure-blood brats. Just because they don't get one small caprice met... Merlin, I'm as bad as my father," Samara cried.

Severus stared at Samara and blinked. There was definitely a dark side to Samara, much darker than he had originally thought, and he could see now that it really had to be a struggle for her to surpress the side of her that was like her father and try to be her usual light self. As he stared at her, Severus felt as though he were staring at his own reflection of when he was a teenager.

Severus knew that she was a good person, but that sometimes no matter how good you are, doing the wrong thing was so much easier. Especially when you were filled with such anger and hate that you just wanted to relieve yourself by making those that have made you suffer pay for what they have done. It was a struggle that he understood all too well, and Severus loved Samara because for the most part, she didn't allow anger and hate to rule her. For the most part, Samara tried to fight it back with all her being, by trying to be loving and caring. She was good because she made a conscious choice to be good.

"You are not like your father Samara," Severus said as he walked over to Samara's side and being reminded of all the times that Samara had told him the very same thing. Samara looked over at him questioningly, her warm eyes begging for reassurance as her cheeks glistened with the tears that she had shed. "You know very well that humans have a dual nature, and the battle of light versus dark always rages within, but you know that you are a good person. You do not cause harm just to see others suffer. You were angry with them for the harm that they have done for you, you didn't do it because you wanted to see them suffer for your own amusement."

Samara wiped away are her tears and laughed bitterly for a moment. "Oh what you must think of me, Sev. You must think like Shakespeare did when he wrote Sonnet 147," Samara said sadly as she turned away from him and continued to wipe away her tears. Her cheeks were bright red that she had cried in front of him and was showing him such weakness.

"Excuse me?" Severus asked not understanding what se meant by that. Instead of answering him, Samara didn't say anything and merely handed him a the book she was reading and pointed to a poem numbered 147. Severus furrowed his brows and stared down at the book that she was reading before looking at the passage that she had pointed out.

_My love is a fever, longing still  
For that which longer nurseth the disease,  
Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill,  
Th' uncertain sickly appetite to please.  
My reason, the physiciam to my love,  
Angry that his prescriptions are not kept,  
Hath left me, and I desprate now approve  
Desire is death, which physic did except,  
Past cure I am, no reason is past care,  
And frantic made with evermore unrest;  
My thoughts and my discourse as madmen's are,  
At random from the truth wainly expressed;_

_For I who have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright,  
Who art as black as hell, as dark as night._

Severus had to reread the poem a couple of times to understand its meaning, and after the third time he thought he had to picture, but was yet a bit unsure. However, he got the gist of if and what she meant. He felt his heat ache to at the thought that she would think that he thought of her in such a way. Indeed, perhaps she was not the saint sometimes he thought her to be, the angel that he thought of her as, but he did not think her a demon either. Neither did he think that she had tricked him into loving her by pretending to be something she was not or would suffer in her love because she wasn't what he thought she was.

"Samara I know you are no saint, I know that there is a side to you that is dark. We all have that ability to do... wrong inside us. But I know you, and to me you are perfect," he said as he stared at her. Samara turned slowly to look at him and a tear slid down her cheek as she looked at him.

"You are a better person than me, Severus," Samara said as she looked into his eyes. Severus shook his head at this, but Samara protested. "You are Severus. I wish I could let things go and I try... but I cant. You felt bad for what you did to me, and yet I made you tell me in detail to make you relive it and suffer more. But you... you just let it go," Samara said as she looked at him. Severus shook his head.

"I would not have forgiven you if you were to blame Samara," Severus said matter-of-factly as he stared into her eyes. Samara blinked as she stared into his eyes and nodded at this.

"It's getting late, I should go Sev," Samara said as she got up and headed towards the door. Severus nodded and watched her walk away.

"Samara,"Severus called out as she reached the door, suddenly thinking of something. Samara turned away and looked at him questioningly, with her bright and curious eyes. Sev smirked at her and raised a brow. "How did you get five Acromantula's to bite them?" he asked as he stared at her. Samara smiled enigmatically.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" she said teasingly before turning around and walking out of the room, leaving him quite piqued.

**TBC...**

**A/n:** You didn't have to wait as long as last time for this chapter I'm guessing, though its a bit shorter than the last. However, I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter and liked this other side of Samara that you are starting to get to see. Maybe by the end of this you will kind of get her all around. Though I'm not sure. Anyway, please leave a review!**  
**


	77. Like A Stone

**WARNING:**There is a bit of adult content, but it really isn't much and I've seen worse then this in other Rated Teen stories. Anyway, I just thought I'd put a small warning, even though it really isn't anything.

**Disclaimer:**The song that Samara sings is Audioslave's song Like a Stone. I know that it wasn't around when this story takes place, but its such a great song!

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 77: Like A Stone**_

Time slipped away quite easily and rather uneventfully when he and Samara were not fighting. February slipped away without further even and March started to slip by. At the end of the first week, Gryffindor had their preliminary, and Severus was unsurprised that the two finalists were Bill Weasley, although actually that was a bit of a surprise considering he was a fifth year, and Eric Williamson. However, Severus somehow knew that the winner of that particular match would be Williamson, and not just because the boy was a seventh year.

The following weekend after that was a Hogsmead weekend, which meant that he did not get to see Samara all day Saturday, but that on Sunday evening she had alot to say to him. Lately he noticed that they were both very busy, Samara mainly preovupied with her upcoming NEWTs and Severus grading the excessive amount of work he had assigned the fifth and seventh years. Their exams would be taking place at the begining of June, and it seemed that their time to be studying was running out and that exams were practically upon them.

As he sat at his desk grading, Severus thought about his seventh year. NEWTs were stressful enough as they were, Severus didn't understand how Samara wasn't in the hospital yet, having to take a calming draught with all the extra responsibilities she had on her as Head Girl. Not to mention her losing time not only to help out in the Hospital wing and spend time with him. Severus was really amazed that despite all the extra stress factors, Samara's grade did not show the slightest indication that she may be struggling. And neither did she as she had started to seem lately the perky and happy Samara he had first come to known and love.

Looking up from his grading for a moment and looked over at Samara. She was perusing his book shelf and looking at his many books. She had one in hand and was staring at it with a furrowed brow. He had seen her bent earlier to pick something up that had fallen out of the book and Severus wondered just how many of his books had pieces of parchment and notes stuck in them from when he had read the books and just shoved it in there. However, he didn't preoccupy his thoughts with that as he watched Samara carefully.

There was a rather curious expression on her face as she stared down at the book. Her hands were daintily holding the book in her hands and resting the edge of the book on her abdomen. Her long black hair was loose and framing her small, pale face as a somewhat confused smile lit her features and her eyes sparkled strangely. After a moment, she simply shook her head as she snapped the book shut and shelfed it before continuing to peruse the shelves.

Severus set down his quill and watched Samara in earnest. Since the night she'd admitted that she had been behind the hospitalization of the Slytherin girls, neither one of them had brought up the matter once more and no one else seemed to find it suspicious. Severus supposed that had a lot to do with the fact that no one cared what happened to the Slytherin students so long as they were not mortally injured.

However, Severus found himself wondering about Samara. There was certainly more to her than met the eye. She was usually quite happy, cheerful, smiley and sweet. He supposed she hadn't seem that way as much the past two years, but considering her pregnancy the previous year and all the difficulties that they had both encountered since, he understood why she wasn't quite herself. He now knew a side of Samara that probably no one else had ever seen, and he was sure that while it might disturb other people, it didn't make him love her any less or think her any less an angel to him. He still thought of her as blessing.

When Lily had died, he had thought that his life was over. He had a agreed to help Dumbledore to watch over the Potter brat, and it was a promise he made for Lily and intended to keep no matter what. However, Severus was well aware that if he would have never made that promise, he would have gladly ended his life as he had nothing else to live for. However, that promise had been his salvation in more than one ways and had allowed him to the time that he needed to get to know Samara better and fall in love with her.

Perhaps it wasn't for the best to love Samara as much as he did. In fact, the more time passed the more he became convinced that this wasn't going to end well. He was quite realistic and that there would be no fairytale ending for their love. She would probably realize that she deserved better than him and leave; or his dark secret would come out and Severus couldn't imagined her forgiving him for having decieved her for so long, much less wanting to accept what he had done in his part and what he really was.

It panged him to make this realization and usually he pushed them aside and tried to just relish in the light that was Samara's love. Yet, he knew that an insurmountable amount of pain awaited him. He didn't deserve Samara, and he was sure that she was just another cruel joke that the fates had placed in his path to make him suffer all the more for his past crimes. He knew that Samara would one day leave him, because he could keep his secret from her forever, and he didn't know what would become of him went that day at least came. Would he be able to survive? He supposed he would have to, he promised Dumbledore that he would help protect Lily's son, and despite loving Samara more than anything, if she were to leave him he would still force himself to keep that promise. If his life was going to be over, he might as well do one thing right.

"_On cobweb afternoon, in a room full of emptiness, by a freeway, I confess I was lost in the pages, of a book, full of death, reading I will die alone and if we're good, we're laid to rest, anywhere we want to go,"_ Severus smiled as he watched Samara singing softly to herself, so softly that if the room wasn't so silent he probably wouldn't have been able to hear her in the least. However, he caught every word that she sand as she distractedly looked through the shelves of books, her fingers caressing the spines. He always found it strange when she sang, why did it always seem to reflect his thoughts? "_In your house, I long to be. Room, by room, patiently, I'll wait for you there, like a stong. I'll wait for you there, alone."_

Severus watched Samara as she sang softly, her head starting to move to the music she was apparently listening inside her own head. She looked absolutely adorable to him, and yet his heart filled with some strange sorrow as he heard the lyrics of the song that she was listening to."_You know my deathbed, I will pray to the gods and the angels, like a pagan, to anyone who will take me to heaven. To a place, I recall, I was there so long ago. The sky was bruised, the wine was bled, and there you led me on," _she continued singing, completely oblivious to the fact that Severus was watching her.

She continued on for a moment, just humming what appeared to be the chorus of the song and Severus wondered if that would be what death was like. He supposed if he were to die, or that when he died, he would want to be somewhere, were he could wait for Samara and think of her. Were his memory was of her strongest, though he didn't know where exactly that was. He didn't want it to be in Spinner's End that was so darkly tainted with his past, it could be Hogwarts were they had to hide their relationship.

Thinking of the last day of the previous school year, Severus found his heart settling into that memory as if it sat beside him near the lake that day. Samara had seemed so peaceful in her sleep that day, and her heart had quickened beneath his fingertips when he reached out to make sure she was yet alive. They had sat in mainly companionable silence and watched the sun disappearing beyond the trees and watched it sparkle like fire off of the lake. They were so aware of each others presence, the love radiating from one another and yet completely at peace with it. Not having to fight the urges of desire and the sound of reason and propriety were silenced. There was quiet and peace, so much that it filled him so from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet, the weight of the world having finally let up and left him alone, if just for that one moment suspended in time.

"_And on I read, until the day was gone, and I sat in regret, of all the thigns I've done, for all that I've blessed and all that I've wronged. In dreams, until my death, I will wander on,"_ Severus was surprised and looked up into Samara's eyes as she stood before him and sang softly to him, her voice becoming hardly anything more than a whisper. He had been caught up in his thoughts, that he had not noticed that she had walked over to him and was standing right there in front of him until he felt her index finger lightly tipping his head up so that her gaze caught his.

"What are you singing?" he asked when she stopped.

"Like a stone," she replied with a smile as she straddled his lap. Despite being surprised, Severus lightly encircled her waist with his arms and stared into her face lovingly as she tucked her hair behind her ears and leaned in to place a chaste kiss on his lips. "I noticed you were staring and thought that maybe you liked the song," she said as she pushed his hair out of his face, her fingertips ghosting across his temples and making him close his eyes in longing as her fingers lightly caressed his scalp and sent shivers of pleasure through him.

Samara merely smiled at his response and leaned in to place a kiss on his lips. Her fingers entangled themselves gently into his hair as she sensuously and slowly kissed his lips, taking her time in relishing in their softness before taking his bottom lip between hers and sucking on it gently. Severus moaned as he grasped onto her robes and pulled her closer to him, wanting to grasp onto her tightly as his brain had turned to mush and he felt his desire for her mounting. He couldn't remember the last time that he had been so close to her and he didn't know quite what it was, but since he'd seen her with the Weasley kid he was growing an unconscious desire to claim possession over her. More than ever he wanted to make Samara his, to have her succumb to him.

Gathering Samara up in his arms, he pulled her closer to him and pressed her firmly against him as he ran his hands to her black tresses and lost himself in the sensation of her kiss. She'd slipped her tongue in his mouth and was stroking his with the lightest of touches, exploring his mouth slowly as she rocked her hips against his growing arousal. Severus moaned into her kisses as he placed his hands on her legs and pushed up her robes and held onto the bottom of her thighs as he stood up and sat her on the edge of the desk.

Pulling away suddenly as he remembered this was the precise way she had been kissing the Weasley kid he buried his face in her neck, panting for breath. "Merlin I want you Samara," Severus breathed as one of his hands grasped onto the desk while the other reached up and cupped the side of her face as he shut his eyes tight. He could feel Samara's fingers still tangled in his hair as she breathed as raggedly as he did and encircled his waist with her legs and brought his pelvis closer to her.

"Severus, just take me already. I'm yours, devour me," Samara moaned huskily into his ear as she trailed kisses down his neck. Severus felt a sudden body part twitch as he shuddered with the desire to do just as she had suggested. Pulling away from her intoxicating smell as best he could, Severus closed his eyes as he grabbed her face and pressed his forehead to hers, holding her face on either side.

"Samara, I can't," Severus said opening his eyes and staring into Samara's darkened gaze, full of love and lost and becoming clouded with frustration. Her legs fell limp as did her arms, disentangling her body from his as pain welled up inside her, pain that she wanted to do nothing more than push away and allow her anger to take over.

"When Severus? When are you going to deem me worthy of being touched?" Samara asked coldly. Severus shut his jaw tight and clenched it as he stared into her eyes. Watching her as she sighed heavily and pushed him back into his seat and got off the desk to pace. "We have been in love with each other far longer than we have been together, in the time we have known each other we've been through more things then people experience in a marriage. You know I'm not some little innocent child that you'd be taking advantage of and I know that you want me then why? Why won't you just have sex with me?"

"I want to make love to you Samara, there is a difference," Severus said, pinching the bridge of his nose as his arousal faded and his frustration mounted. They had been doing so well and yet it seemed that it always came back to the same thing. Everything always seemed to come around to this and he wished that it didn't, that sex did not have such a great hold on humans as it did. But he couldn't blame Samara for her desires and frustrations, after all she was a woman and despite her innocent-looking features and demeanor, there was no denying her sensuality. He was sure that she was very bit the alluring snake-charmer any woman was capable of being.

"Then make love to me Severus! What's stopping you? Because I'm certainly not! I don't care if its perfect or anything, so long as it is with you we will be making love!" Samara said in frustration as she rounded on him and glared. Severus met her gaze steadily but did not say anything in response to her. She was breathing heavily in an attempt to control her mounting anger. He could see it welling up inside her, like molten lava rising to the surface of the volcano and it didn't seem that it would be long before it spilled over the brim and destroyed everything in its path.

Samara ran her hands through her hair in frustration and clenched onto the roots as though she thought to rip them out. However, instead she merely turned away and walked out of his private quarters, slamming the door shut behind her. Severus sighed as her departure and ran his hands through his hair, knowing it was for the best that Samara leave to calm down before this mounted into an even bigger mess than it already was.

Placing his head in his hands, Severus began to wonder just how long Samara was capable of torturing her libido just for him. He wondered how long she'd be able to stand his rejections before she actually got tired and turned him away or turned to the arms of another man. It panged him to think that she might do something like this and even though he knew she would never cheat on him consciously, he did not feel so certain that she would not leave him.

Suddenly, he found that his thoughts were once more turning to what he had previously been thinking about. About the inevitability that what they had, would come to an end and Severus could see now what would probably make it come all the more faster. It filled Severus with dread, however, when Lily had died he had resigned himself to dying alone and while Samara had changed that, he wasn't foolish enough to believe that her presence in his life was something permanent. He knew that she would leave, that time was running out and he supposed that for her, it would really be fore the best. And he... well he'd just have to find some way to pull through.

**TBC...**

**A/n:**Sorry for taking so long to update and for the short chapter. Anyway, pelase Review and I shall do my best to update again soon. Any typos are result of quick editing cause I wanted to post this as soon as possible, so I am very sorry.


	78. The Competing Gymnast

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 78: The Competing Gymnast**_

Severus made his way towards the castle from the lake. Another week of March had slipped by and as the temperature became more tempid, Severus found that his moods turned more and more sour on the outside while inside he felt more and more morose. He was missing Samara, who apparently had needed her space all week long as she was avoiding him. Her absence gave him a lot of time to spend thinking about the fast approaching day that he would lose her indefinitely, and he knew somehow that it was approaching, and it wasn't just because for the past five days he had been unable to see her out of class.

Not that he hadn't attempted to approach her. He had tried to approach her after class on Wednesday and she had stopped his progress by lifting her hand to him and shaking her head. All the while she had been unable to even look in his direction. She kept her gaze steadily on the floor and he could only see the profile of her face, and while she did not seem angry, she appeared to be a bit upset. He hadn't tried to approach her since then. He couldn't simply because she didn't want him to and he wanted to respect her wishes. Give her time to think.

Sighing heavily, he emerged past the lake only to stop in his tracks to see Samara flipping backwards, doing several in succesion. Severus was amazed by the way that she could throw her body, bend and manipulate it. It was mind boggling, yet at the same time there was a precise beauty to it the way that every limb was perfectly located, right where it was supposed to be, how it was supposed to be at the perfect time. When she stuck the landing, the momentum did not even stir her as she crouched low before straightening out quickly and tossing her arms up in the air. There was a concentrated serenity on Samara's face, but there was turmoil in her eyes as she lowered her arms and allowed herself to fall to the ground.

Samara propped up her legs on the ground and placed her elbows on her knees as she placed her head in her hands and ran her hands through her hair, pulling it out of the bun that she'd tied her hair in. Severus watched silently from where he stood, far enough away for her not to be able to notice him, but close enough to see that she was very upset. For a moment, just before her black hair was released and closed upon her face like the curtains falling after a tragic play, he could see tears were sliding down her cheeks as she glared at the grass between her legs.

Severus stared at Samara in surprise, his heart aching. The last time he had seen her cry seemed so long ago. There were few and far between times that he had seen Samara cry or had heard of such an occurrence. Each and every time had broken his heart, because he knew that it had to be quite serious to be able to affect Samara in such a way.

When Severus walked over, he could tell he had been detected by the way that Samara tried to wipe away her tears without being too obvious. "What wrong Samara?" Severus asked as he knelt down next to her before she could look up to him and say anything. Samara mumbled something that to Severus vaguely sounded like '_bloody hell'_ but he was very unsure as he'd never heard Samara say such a thing. After a short pause, Samara looked over to him and merely shook her head, as if to say that nothign was wrong, but he could se the way the edges of her eyes had turned pink from the tears that she had shed. He found it amazing that Samara wasn't telling him what was wrong and was lying to him, when it was so blatantly obvious that something was wrong. "I can't believe you are lying to me, disappointing."

"You wouldn't be the first person to be disappointed in me," Samara said coldly as her eyes hardened on him. "My father was disappointed I wasn't born a boy. My mother was disappointed that I wasn't my father. My gymnast instructors were always disappointed that I didn't take gymnastics serious enough to compete, and Xavier was disappointed that I was so green," Samara said a she glared at him. "And you know what Severus, I don't care. Why should I care if I'm a disappointment to others when they have all disappointed me?" she asked angrily as she got to her feet and began to march away.

Severus immediately stood up and followed behind her, catching her by the elbow and forcing her to turn around. "What is wrong with you Samara, just tell me," Severus said through gritted teeth as he stared down at her. Samara downcast her gaze as a pained expression crossed her face.

"I've never had anything. All I ever had was books, and gymnastics. I didn't get along with any of the muggle kids in my neighborhood and I couldn't even get along with the girls in gymnastics," Samara said as she pulled out of his grasp and allowed herself to fall to the ground and sit there dejectedly. Severus once more knelt down before here and stared at her intently, trying to understand where she was going with this. His heart panged to hear about her lonely childhood. At least he had found Lily. Sure in the end that had caused him a lot of pain and misery, but she took away the loneliness for a while and even after she had left, the fact that she had been in his life allowed that loneliness to not suffocate him.

"But I didn't care that all the girls hated me because I was smaller than them, I never cared that the were jealous about how good I was at Gymnastics, I didn't care that all they did was talk behind my back, because I had something that they didn't have. I had an appreciation for gymnastics that they didn't and would never understand. Because to me it wasn't about the medals, trophies, competitions or any of that stuff," Samara said. "They were all a bunch of anorexic and bulimic little twats. When Xavier came, they were more jealous of me because he paid me the most attention," Samara continued, her voice becoming angrier as she wiped the single tear that escaped her eyes. "But Xavier took that away from me. He took so much more than he knew."

"My time with him was so brief, but he took away so much. He took from me gymnastics, my virginity, the delight that is supposed to be your first pregnancy. He tainted it and left behind nothing but anger and misery," Samara said angrily, though with the tint of resignation creeping into her voice. She then looked up at him and stared deeply into his eyes. "What are you taking and leaving, Severus?"

Severus was slightly taken aback by this, however it seemed that Samara didn't expect a response as she merely stood up and ran off towards the castle. Severus looked after Samara as she disappeared from his sight, feeling like his body was going into shock. He felt all his blood draining from him and like his heart stopped and his lungs didn't work anymore. He still did not know how to react to such a question, though he understood the point that she was trying to make.

---

Severus was more than annoyed the following day at the Slytherin Preliminaries. He felt so very tired, not having been able to sleep the whole previous night as his thoughts turned to Samara. It was all that he could think about. His thoughts were so jumbled, he wasn't quite sure if they were coherent anymore or if he was loosing his mind. They were consuming him alive and torturing him as they made a mess of his internal peace of mind. He could no longer make any sense of what was going on inside his head, or what he was supposed to do about Samara, or if there was even something he should do about anything.

He didn't completely understand what Samara had meant when she had spoken to him. Was she telling him that she didn't want to be with him anymore because she was afraid of what they're relationship would do to her if they were together for any longer? Or did she sense that something was wrong with them? Did she sense that their end was coming as he did, even though she knew not why?

Severus tried to focus his attention to the Slytherin matches that were taking place beneath his gaze. Due to his agitated state of mind, he was hardly paying attention. The first two matches had passed without him taking any notice and the current match wasn't anymore interesting to him as the others. He was pretty sure that the first match had been between Ethan and another member of the Slytheirn team, a chaser. The second had been between Tim and one of the Slytherin fifth year prefects. The current match was between Drake and a Sltyerhin Severus' couldn't recall. It was a seventh year, but he didn't recall that person from potions class and he was sure that he didn't currently have him in his NEWTs class.

Turning away in disinterest, Severus stared at his colleagues who seemed much entertained by the current match. As he watched them, he wondered if any of them had much of a social life. He had never particularly tried to get along with his colleagues or know anything about their personal lives. As far as he really knew, Professor Vector was the only one married as she was the only one that was so open about her relationship with her spouse. As for the rest of his colleagues, he was completely unaware of their situations. Severus wondered if that were strange that after six years of teaching, he was so unaware of his colleagues marital status.

He of course knew that Sinistra was not with anyone, nor was Professor Cross. However, he knew very little about anyone else. He didn't think that Dumbledore or McGonagall were married to anyone, though from what he had seen of the two of them together, he wondered if there were something more than mere friendship on the part of the Headmaster and his Deputy. However, he never mulled over this for very long and indeed the reason he was wondering at the current moment was because he wanted to postpone the inevitable.

Severus was very much aware of how very dangerous his thoughts were becoming. On the one hand he did not wish to lose Samara and he was sure that he would do anything to stay with her. He could no deny that he didn't want her. However, he knew if he obliged her she would see his Dark Mark and that would lead to very unwanted questions or she might simply hate him and not even question it. If by some strange chance she accepted him for what he was, he didn't think he'd be able to stand her curiosity about his past and he certainly did not wish to taint her by regaling to her the stories of his past.

Shaking his head of these thoughts, Severus told himself that it was absurd to think that Samara would accept what he was once she knew he'd been a Death Eater. Pushing the thought of her acceptance away, he settled back into a scenario that was far more likely to occur, such as her outrage and hate towards him because of what he used to be and for deceiving her for so long by not telling him from the beginning. She would undoubtedly hate him and be hurt. She would think that all they had gone through was a great lie, she would resent everything that they had gone through together and she would want nothing more than to be as far away from him as possible. She would forever hate him. She wouldn't accept any explanation that he could offer, and it was impossible to offer one without involving Lily in it, and he did not wish to speak about Lily with anyone, even Samara.

Severus didn't even snap out of his thoughts as Cross announced Drake Benson as the winner. He merely clapped automatically and sarcastically with everyone else as he thought about what he was going to do. He knew that his end with Samara was inevitable and he didn't see the point in postponing it, dragging it out and making the whole ordeal much more painful for he and Samara than it was already going to be. As it was, they were already having so many problems and he felt that Samara was suffering more than he would have thought she would have. Of course, he knew that a lot of it had to do with all the responsibilities that she had, but he wasn't sure that once she left Hogrwarts things would be any easier. After all, he would be at Hogwarts for the better part of the year and she would be studying to become a Healer.

He could only imagine that their relationship would become far more strained and that Samara's frustrations would only get worse. And he could only imagine how his jealousy and possessiveness would begin to act up to know that she was so far away and getting to know new people while he was stuck at the castle for the greater portion of a year, unable to see her very often. He was sure that would only be hell and could only imagine that things would be so much worse and harder.

What she had said about them having been through more things than most married couples made him wonder. They sure had more problems in one year than most marriages had in a course of at least three years and he wasn't sure that was a good sign. He wasn't even sure that Samara had meant that as something positive. Maybe she was trying to tell him that what they had wasn't working out and with time would only become much worse.

Severus had a desire to bury his head in his hands as he thought about what he had gotten himself into. If he were going to embark in such a relationship, perhaps he should have waited until they weren't under such distressing circumstances. He wondered what on earth had compelled him to act on such an impulse and ask Samara for them to try something when he knew all the problems that would arise. Had he even thought of them as thoroughly as he should have? He imagined that had he kept pushing Samara away, perhaps they would have avoided much of the headache that they were feeling. Or at least, that he was feeling now that he thought of losing Samara.

"I see Samara has chose to compete," Severus was aware of someone saying at his side. He snapped out of his thoughts as soon as he heard Samara's name and turned away from the match beneath them to Sinistra who was standing next to him. His gaze had not been focused enough on what he was previously staring at to see what was going down below and he didn't much care. He assumed that the contestants for the final match of the first round were making their way towards the stage to join Cross.

"Excuse me?" he asked as he looked at Aurora, who was now leaning over and staring intently down belong. She was leaning on the railing and Severus was forced to turn and look at what she was staring at so intently. He was more than mildly surprised to see that Samara had joined Cross on the stage. Was she competing? How did he not know of this? How was that at all possible.

Severus ignored the irony that Samara's rival would be Marietta Hawthorne, and instead thought about how he did not know that the love of his life was competing. Sure, he had been completely unaware of who the eight contestants from Slytherin would be, as he had never bothered to check the list posted in the Slytherin Common Room. However, considering the fact that he was with Samara, he wondered how she had not mentioned it at all to him. Were they really that involved in their problems that they had paid no mind to the fact that she would be participating in the matches? And Severus wondered why on top of everything she was already doing why she would bother to add one thing more.

"How is it possible that you were not aware of which of your students were competing?" Aurora asked incredulously as she stared at the Slythering Head of House. Severus grimaced as he watched Samara and Marietta grudgingly bow to each other before turning away and putting some distance between them. Samara was far more subtle with her hatred and Severus was sure he was the only one who could see the gleam of hate in her eyes as the rest of her face was utterly impassive and full of concentration.

"Do you think the preliminaries are really of much interest to me?" Severus asked in a lazy drawl as he watched Samara and Marietta turned to look at each other. It was strange to see that Marietta had tied up her curly, dirty-blonde hair in a ponytail, he was almost sure that such a plain hairstyle was not a regular occurrence for the haughty Slytherin girl. However, he was more surprised with the fact that Samara had her hair lose, usually when she was doing something she tied it to keep it out of her face. Severus raised a brow at this bit of cockyness on Samara's part. Clearly she was none too concerned about her opponent and thinking back to the duel he'd seen her partake in against both Marietta and Jessica, he was sure she had nothing to worry about.

"I would think they would when it concerned _your_ students," Aurora said mockingly. Severus leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest as he scowled down at the scene beneath him. He was angry at Samara for not having told him. Yes they had been having a lot of problems recently, but it wasn't like they had been quarrelling all the time since January. She had had plenty of opportunities to tell him that she had applied for the competition and that she had made it into the preliminaries. He shouldn't have had to find out like this.

"Hardly. The only thing I care about is that a Slytherin wins in the end," Severus replied dryly. Aurora merely smirked at this response. She personally didn't like any of the students from Slytherin that were competing, except of course Samara. Sure she herself was a Slytherin, but that didn't particularly mean that she esteemed many of the students from her house. There were several in each year that were more than decent, Samara was hardly one of the only sweet Slytherins, however, the majority were conniving, manipulative, pureblood maniacs.

As the match between Samara and Marietta at last started, Severus tried to follow it closely. But after seeing the unmerciful onslaught of spells Samara sent in Marietta's direction and seeing the difficulty with which the other witch was repelling them, he lost interest. He would have been far more concerned if he thought that Samara could get hurt, but was he knew that this particular match wasn't very fair, he found himself getting lost in his previous musings, pushing away fro the moment the anger that he felt towards Samara for not having mentioned the fact that she was competing.

Trying to keep his breathing steady, he forced himself to reckon that he and Samara couldn't go on as they were and it was for the best to cut things off before they got much worse. He knew that seeing Samara around would kill him, but he knew what was for the best and letting things drag out until they hated each other or until it was most convenient to cut things off would be wrong. However, as he stared at Samara's sparkling hazel eyes and the concentration on her face, he wondered if she would be able to handle this.

She already had so much on her plate, he didn't want to add to it anymore. Samara was strong, stronger than she knew or gave herself credit for and he knew that she would be able to pull through. However, he remembered back to her sixth year, the way that she had been so distraught over her Gymnastics coach and he couldn't imagine seeing her like that again, especially if he were the cause for it. He wasn't sure if he was capable of doing that to her and his heart panged and he felt tears building in his eyes to think of the pain that he was going to cause her. However, his mind rationalized that it would be so much worse if he let things go on as they were.

All that was left to do was figure out how he was going to do it. Shaking his head, Severus watched as the match came to its conclusion and unsurprisingly Samara was named the winner of the match. As the Slytherin Preliminaries moved to their second rounds, Severus once more slid into his thoughts and ignored the following match between Timothy and Ethan. Instead, he found himself trying to think of breaking it gently to Samara that they couldn't be together. He knew that she wasn't going to accept it, unless she had already accepted it.

A part of him hoped that she had already accepted it and wanted him to make the first move. While another part of him hoped that she didn't want it to end anymore than he did. However, he knew that no matter how much he wanted to be with her that he didn't want her to make things any harder on him than they were already going to be. He had no desire for what they had to come to an end, and he knew that it was giong to be quite painful.

He'd been so lost in his thoughts that when Timothy and Samara were named the finalist he had no idea how it had gotten to that point. All Severus was aware of was that he had resolved his mind and tried his best on how and when he would tell her. He didn't really know how it would go, but he knew that he would endeavor to make it as least painful as possible, for the both of them.

**TBC..**

**A/N:**Sorry about the ending of this chapter, but I really wanted to finish it tonight and I took Nyquil not really thinking it would knock me out and it already is. Its been a bit of a struggle to finish this chapter feeling was woozy as I do. Anyway, hope that you enjoyed the chapter and that you will all review. I will attempt to make my next update soon. Pleaswe Review!


	79. The Never Ending Duel

**Disclaimer:**_"Thus with a kiss I die." _-Romeo and Juliet. Act V, Scene III. You all of course should know that was written by William Shakespeare.

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 79: The Never Ending Duel**_

"You're more quiet than usual. Is something wrong?" Severus looked up from the book that he was pretending to read while Samara was curled up into his side while they sat on the couch in his private quarters. Severus looked down at Samara, who seemed rather tired. He really couldn't blame her, considering the fact that she had participated in two dueling matches the previous day, had Head Girl duties to perform and studying to do. He knew that all she wanted to do was rest and so far, they had both spent much of their afternoon in the same positions, not saying a word to one another. However, Severus didn't suppose that Samara could have any idea what conclusion he had come to the previous evening or what he was planning to do, despite the fact that he wasn't quite sure how he was going to tell her.

"Why didn't you tell me you were going to participate in the Dueling Competition?" he asked as he looked at her. That really wasn't what he meant to say to her and he didn't know why he was delaying the inevitable. His stomach was in knots and he knew that every muscle in his body was taut and rigid. It was taking all his concentration and skills at Occlumency to remain cold and distant, and despite the fact that he had yet to say anything to Samara, he already wanted to cling to her and ask her not to leave him. It was maddening, considering the fact that he was the one that was ending things. Though he was quite sure that Samara had been trying to tell him that she didn't want to deal with him anymore.

"You didn't know?" Samara asked in surprise as she sat up and looked at him with a furrowed brow. "I thought that someone may have mentioned it to you or that you would have seen the list of Slytherins that were participating in the competition. You're not mad about that are you Sevy? I would've told you if I thought you didn't know," Samara said, looking rather worried as she stared at him, as though she really feared that she had made him angry about something so stupid. Severus was sure that something like that might have angered him under normal circumstances, however, at the moment he could bear to be angry with her, even if that would make things much simpler.

"No, I'm not angry Samara," he said in the same flat tone he had started to speak to her in. This did not seem to alleviate her worries as she began to bit on her lower lip and look at him pleadingly. Her eyes were begging him to tell her what was wrong, or in what way she had upset him. Severus sighed heavily as he stared at her and closed the book in his lap before pinching the bridge of his nose. He had a feeling that she was going to make this much difficult than it had to be by being vulnerable. He almost wished that she were angry so that at least than she wouldn't be feeling pain. "Samara, there is something I need to talk to you about."

Severus turned to look at Samara and was surprised to see that she was no longer sitting beside him but was instead standing up and adjusting her robes. She looked a little wound up, despite her attempt to appear nonchalant. "Oh really, about what?" she asked calmly as she flipped her black hair over her shoulder and sat down again on the edge of the couch.

"Samara, I've been thinking a lot about this and..." however before he could say anything more she jumped up and smiled at him apologetically.

"I'm so sorry Sev, but I was supposed to start patrolling today," Samara said as she pecked him on the cheek. "We'll talk about this later all right," she said as she looked into his surprised face before turning around and practically running out of the room as she was in such a rush. Severus furrowed his brow and wondered why she was behaving so strangely as he gritted his teeth to realize he was going to have to agonize longer over his feelings and what he knew that he had to do for Samara's peace of mind.

---

The following two weeks found the Potions Master's moods becoming fouler and fouler as his inner turmoil drove him insane. Everytime that he tried to spend anytime with Samara, to tell her that they couldn't go on, she had some excuse that she had her duties to perform, homework to catch up on, a tutoring session with the younger students, or a meeting with one of her Professors. She never seemed to have any more time for him and as time wore on, Severus had the feeling that she was doing this on purpose.

He began to feel frustrated and angry with Samara and the burden of what he wanted to say was wearing him down. Severus thought that it was getting quite ridiculous. He couldn't comprehend why she was doing this. He didn't know why she was avoiding him like that. Was this her passive aggressive way of ending things with him? Did she not have the courage to tell him that she didn't want to be with him anymore. It was infuriating him?

Severus stalked into the Great Hall along with all the students that were turning up to see the last of the Preliminaries were the finalist for each house would be selected. Severus found himself paying very little attention to the first three matches as he was constantly on the look out for Samara. He hadn't joined the rest of the teachers on the raised platform today as he was determined to talk to Samara. However, it was proving quite the feat to be able to spot her in the large crowd of students. He'd never before realzied just how many girls at Hogwarts had long black hair just like Samara's and how they all looked like her from behind. Just as the second match, the one that was going to determine who would compete for Ravenclaw was about to finish, Severus was beginning to lose hope of finding Samara before her turn to compete came when he spotted her.

Gritting his teeth, Severus realized that she had chosen to stand in a heavy cluster of Gryffindors. Mainly she seemed to be talking to Bill. Severus started to make his way through, however, before he reached the particular cluster of fifth year Gryffindors, Samara patted Bill one last time before moving off towards her friends as the second match came to end and the one to decide the Gryffindor competitor came up.

If it were at all possible to clench his jaw shut anymore, Severus would have done it as he started to follow Samara to were she was walking to. It was infuriating to try and make it through the crow without calling too much attention to himself, and it was proving quite difficult to catch up to Samara as she walked away. Severus cursed the fact that she was so small and think that she could easily get through the crowds without causing any disturbance. As it was, Severus had already upset many little brats on his conquest to catch up to Samara and pull her aside.

"Samara, a word," Severus said coldly when he had gotten close enough to her to grab her by the arm. Samara whirled around and looked at him in surprise. Her eyes looked at him worriedly as she tried to smile at him, however, he could see that the attempt was rather miserable and weak.

"Professor Snape, can this wait? I mean... I'm up in like fifteen minutes," Samara said softly as she looked at him. Severus shook his head and dragged Samara out of the Great hall and a little way down the hallway. As soon as the doors were shut behind them, the silence of the Entrance Hall threatened his courage. However as he turned to look at her and could see that she wanted to flee he realized that he could no longer go on tormenting himself with his intent. He just wanted to get this over with, not matter how painful it would be. NO matter how much he wanted to be with Samara and loved her, he didn't want to cause her anymore pain and knew that she deserved so much better than him. He couldn't continue to torture himself by waging that continuous war inside himself between his mind and his heart.

"We can't do this anymore, Samara," Severus stated as Samara was about to open her mouth to say something. She seemed taken aback by this and clamped her mouth shut. "You know that I love you, but you deserve better Samara. You still don't know anything about my past, and you have enough to deal with already. We can't go on as we have the past months. We've fought more than at any point before and more than is normal for a couple."

"You've got to be joking?" Samara said incredulously as anger jumped into her eyes. "Severus, you have just about the worst timing. You mean to tell me that you wish to break up with me just before I'm about to be in a Dueling match?" she asked angrily as she looked up into his eyes, her voice trembling. She wanted to yell at him and was having a very hard time keeping her anger in check and her voice at a reasonable level as she stared into his eyes. "I won't accept that lame excuse. I don't care about what other couples, we aren't exactly a normal couple Severus and you can't expect our first year to have been all roses and chocolates like that of normal coupls! And don't you worry about all that I have on my plate, I can deal with it! And I'm sick and tired of you telling me that I know nothing about your past, maybe if you would just tell me that wouldn't be such a big damn problem!"

"Samara..."

"I don't care to hear another word from you right now Severus, not unless its an apology," she said angrily as she turned away and made her way towards the door of the Great Hall. Severus stood there for a long moment, far too stunned to speak. This was just not the way that break-ups were supposed to work out and not at all what he expected. He was far too confused to follow her and was unsure of how long he stood there, absolutely stunned. However, he found that his resolve to do the best for Samara had not yet diminished, despite the overwhelming wave of affection that he felt for her.

---

The days wore on and never did the opportunity to speak to Samara come up. Far too busy with the congratulations of the whole world for being chose as the representative of Slytherin. It made Severus become desperate as any opporutnity he had to speak to her was taken away from him and the very few moments that he was able to steal to tell her that they could no longer be, she would not accept it but storm off angrily. It was a game that Severus was very quickly becoming tired of.

"Samara this isn't a game! You know that you and I cannot stay together anymore!" Severus said angrily one night when he managed to corner Samara late one night in the corridor. He assumed that she was going to her rooms from Astronomy when he had come across her in his pacing of the castle. He could no longer sleep all his thoughts were so consuming him. He couldn't breathe without feeling like he would choke on it and the pain in his heart.

"Merlin, not this again Severus. You have yet to give me a substantial reason for us to stop this," Samara said as she looked up into his eyes, very tired of everything that was going on lately. She was absolutely warm out and she didn't think that she could deal with anything anymore. She was tired of school, all her studies, all her extra duties, and all her problems with Severus. She felt like her hair was falling out more and more with all the stress of her life and all she really wanted to do was lay down and say to hell with it all. "You and I have loved each other far more than any other couple in the history of time. Its only logical that the dark side of our passions would be just as prominent as the light," Samara said tiredly as she tried to walk around him so that she could just crawl into bed and forget for a little while all her problems.

"You are not listening Samara," Severus said as he caught her arms in his and forced her to look up at him a little more roughly than he had meant, but he was tired of their little dance. "There are things in my past that you don't know about and would never understand. Samara I cannot tell you about my past because you wouldn't like it and would hate me, but sooner or later the truth is bound to come out and... don't you see what I am trying to say?!"

Samara blinked as she stared up into his eyes. They burned her with their intensity and she could see them glossing over. She could feel her own eyes glossing over as well because her body was so exhausted and she could feel an overwhelming amount of pain. She was too tired to fight with him right now and it pained her because she knew what that meant. She felt like her life were slipping away and that she had wearied her body too much to fight against it anymore.

"Please Severus, not right now," Samara pleaded softly and weakly as she tried to pull out of his grasp. She looked down in shame as she realized how weak she must appear in this moment and she hated it with every fiber of her being as she thought of her mother and wondered if she had ever begged her father for him to stay with her. The tears raced down her face at the thought and she looked at Severus with her eyes turning hard. "Let it go Severus. Look what you are doing to me! I've told you a million times that I don't give a damn about your past, that I love you for who you are. You knew about your past when we started this and you still took that leap, so why question it now? Why throw it all away now?"

"Because I was tired of fighting my feelings for you Samara, but," Severus paused as he looked into her eyes and could see how hurt and tired she was. It only served to further convince him that he was right, that she had too much on her plate and couldn't really deal with it anymore. It hurt to see, and it tore him inside very deeply, but he knew that it was for the best and that even though Samara didn't see it that way, she soon would. "It was a mistake Samara, I should not have made. It was weakness on my part and I am sorry for it. I should not have caused you this pain."

It pained him more than he thought imaginable to say those words and to see Samara's reaction to them. She had to shut her eyes tight to blink away the tears and she cringed in his grasp as though he had grasped onto her heart had clenched it in his grip before ripping it out. "It wasn't a mistake Severus. You said you loved me. How could I be a mistake?" Samara said, her voice cracking with the pain that she felt. She looked up into his eyes, and if there were ever a moment in which he would want to see the magma in her eyes it was that moment. However, as he stared into her hazel eyes, all he could see was that her eyes had melted into a puddle of misery.

"You are not a mistake. The mistake was mine. I cannot love you as you deserve," Severus said, holding on tighter to Samara's eyes as if she would go limp in them at any moment. He found it increasingly hard to keep emotion out of his voice and face as he felt his insides burning. If there were ever a moment were he felt he should be burning in hell, now was certainly one of those moments. He'd never meant to do this to Samara.

"Is it me? What did I do wrong?" Samara said pleadingly as she looked up into his eyes.

"Samara you did nothing wrong, I do love you," Severus said, pulling Samara and placing a gentle kiss on her lips. When he pulled her away he could see that her eyes were glazed over and there was a hollow, empty look beneath the glaze.

"_Thus with a kiss I die_," Samara muttered softly in a hollow tone before she pulled away from him. "You had an old picture of a girl with red hair," Samara said as she looked up at him. Severus furrowed his brow as he looked at Samara, not knowing where she was going with this. However, as he looked at her he felt like he was staring at nothign but a hollow shell. "I kept wondering where I had seen her before and I remembered a picture in the Daily Prohphet that came out when I was a second year anouncing the death of the Potters and I remember... your life was full of misery that year and everytime pain jumped into your eyes. You loved her, she was your friend, and it took me so long to realize it, even after I found her picture in one of your books."

Severus stared at Samara in wonder. He stared into her eyes, but could see nothing in them that would explain how long she knew he had loved Lily for or if she knew to what extent he loved her. Her gaze and face held no expression at all and he had no idea how Samara felt about this as she had shown no indication of even knowing this. However, he did seem to recall the day a few weeks back when she had dropped something out of a book and bent to pick it up and replaced it in the book.

"I'm tired," Samara said with a deep sigh as a fat tear rolled down her cheek. She gently extricated her arms from his grasp as Severus watched in confusion, his arms falling limp and uselessly at his sides as he watched Samara walk around him and leave. He was unable to say anything more and he knew that there was no point in stopping her. The Duel between his mind and heart were at long last over, and his brain stood triumphantly above the last piece of his black heart to be slain.

He knew that it was idiotic to picture this mentally, but he felt pity for his heart. It had been put through so much, and at long last, Severus had manged to rid himself of his last piece of humanity. All that was left of him, was now gone. Severus stared blankly at the hall, not really seeing what was there in front of him and wondering what was left of him now. He supposed nothing more than ghost memories and bitterness.

**TBC...**

**Authors Note: **All righty than, thank you for reading and please Review.


	80. From Ashes Came Fire

**Warning:**There is a bit cursing in this chapter, though I will keep it down to a minimum. 

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 80: From Ashes Came Fire**_

Keeping an eye on Samara the following couple days was quite painful to Severus. Her eyes were constantly red rimmed and she looked completely drained of any energy. Severus noted that her friends tried to cheer her up and see what was wrong with her, but she became particularly despondent. Several teachers had already complained to him that her grades seemed to be starting to suffer. That the Head Girl was not turning in any assignments, that her practical application of magic in their classrooms was suffering and that even the Head Boy said that she was becoming lax in her duties. 

He'd spoken to Madam Pomfrey who told him that she was no longer spending her evenings in the Hospital Wing and after speaking to Samara's friends, they informed him that she disappeared after her classes. As the days wore on, Severus hoped that she would get better, however it only seemed that she would get worse. It seemed that she stopped eating altogether as she no longer showed up to the Great Hall. She apparently couldn't even muster the energy to get up in the morning and get herself to her first period classes, and Sinistra told him that she had stopped showing up to her classes already. 

"Severus do you know what is wrong with her?" Professor Dumbledore asked. Severus looked around at all his colleagues which were gathered in the Teachers Lounge to discuss the Head Girl's situation. Considering all the responsibilities that Samara had and the fact that she was supposed to be setting an example to the other students and Prefects, they couldn't afford for her to continue to behave like this. It pained Severus to know that he was the cause of her despondency. That he was the cause for that blank look on her face, the hollowness in her eyes, and the reason that she seemed to have no energy to hold up her head, or speak. She had become something much worse than a zombie. 

"No I do not," Severus replied as he looked up at Dumbledore. He knew that it was a lie, and one of the worst that he had ever told, but there was simply nothing that he could say in response to that. Severus leaned against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest and stared down at the floor with his brow deeply furrowed. He felt like he had completely destroyed everything that Samara was. He had somehow broken her and he knew that it was his responsibility to fix her, but he knew not how without making the situation worse. 

"Perhaps there is too much on her plate and she cannot handle the stress. If we wheedle off some of the responsibilities that she has..." Pandora was saying, however, she was cut off by Madam Pomfrey who was shaking her head. 

"Samara does excellently when it comes to handle her stress. She is quite capable of coping with everything that she takes on. Though it is alarming that her depression is affecting her life like this, I have no doubt that Samara will bounce back from this. She's a resilient and strong girl," Madam Pomfrey said, to which a couple of her Professors agreed, though they seemed a bit doubtful. However, Madam Pomfrey knew Samara next best to Severus and knew very well what Samara was capable of as she knew that Samara had been pregnant the previous year. 

"But be that as it may, we cannot have the Head Girl continue on this way. And surely Samara is being a danger to herself. She looks quite pale and sickly and I'm sure she has gotten thinner in the past week. She has NEWTS coming up shortly, if she doesn't snap out of this, her future and health will be highly affected," Minerva said gravely. She looked quite worried about the Head Girl, however, it was up to her to look at the picture from a broader view and try to decide what was also good for the school. Severus looked up at the Head of Gryffindor and Deputy Headmistress; even though he was loathe to think of it, he knew that Hogwarts really could not afford for their Head Boy, Girl and Prefects to be thusly incapacitated. 

"I agree with Professor McGonagall. At the rate that Samara is going, she won't be the only one to suffer. I think perhaps it would be prudent to pass off her Head Girl duties to Helena Webber and considering Samara's health, it would be unethical to allow her to compete in the Dueling Competition," Dumbledore said. The Semi-finals were to begin the Saturday that was coming up, and with less than a week until then, no one saw how Samara would be able to compete. "Severus, will you inform Samara of these things, and there will be no need for her to move out of the Head Girls dorms as the year is almost up."

"What!" Severus asked sharply as he looked up at Dumbledore. He stared with a hardened gaze over at the twinkling blue eyes that looked grave and unhappy. "Headmaster, surely it should be you..."

"Severus, you are her Head of House. It would be best if it came from you," Dumbledore said as he looked at the Potions Master. Severus felt his stomach tightening and a grimace slip onto his face at the thought of having to tell Samara these things. It was like adding insult to injury. Furthermore, he was unsure of whether or not he could be alone with Samara as so far he had only really seen her in classes and from afar in the Great Hall. Though it seemed that she couldn't stand the sight of him as she would never look in his direction. "Very well, that is all for today," Dumbledore said, dismissing everyone and heading to the door himself. "Tell me how everything goes," Dumbledore said as he patted Severus on the arm and walked out of the room. When Severus was alone, he ran his hands through his hair and fell on the nearest couch. What was he going to do now?

---

"Samara, a word," Snape called out at the end of class the following day. He saw her finish putting her things away in a somewhat sluggish fashion before dragging herself to the front of the class, her eyes transfixed hazily on the floor which she seemed to drag her feet on. "Your Professors have all decided that as you are having a hard time comping with your responsibilities that they will be lessened. Miss Webber will be taking you're Head Girl duties and Timothy will be participating in the Dueling Competition instead," Severus said coldly, trying to get this over with as fast as possible. 

Samara's head snapped up at this her brow deeply furrowed. While her eyes still looked glazed over, Severus could see that beneath the glaze that there was not that hollow expression that of late was haunting his every moment, awake and in his dreams. Something inside her seemed to be awakening painfully slowly from its slumber. There was an alarmed expression on her face and though she still looked sick and pale with heavy red rims around her now sunken eyes, he could see a little bit of life in her face once more. 

"You can't do that! That's all I have left!" Samara said desperately, her voice coming out as a croak as it seemed that she had not been using her voice of late to speak. In fact, her voice sounded hoarse, as though she had been crying for countless hours and once more Severus felt his heart shred. However, he really did believe that his humanity had died once more, because he could not muster to bring up any real feelings. He was able to detach himself completely and stare down at her coldly, without any emotion on his face, though somewhere deep down inside himself, he was in the worse pain of his life. 

"Samara, you are not fit to carry out your duties. You may still keep your rooms... but it is for the best..."

"For the best?" Samara repeated, as though she were on the verge of becoming hysterical. However, her face turned cold and the glaze cleared from her eyes as she looked at him angrily, the magma making its reappearance once more. "I am so fucking tired of you telling me what is for the best. I have dealt with far more than this! I won't have everything thats been a pain in my ass for the past couple of months be taking away from me now! I was capable of dealing with a pregnancy, miscarriage, my feelings for you and all my school work last year and don't you think for one moment that I'm going to allow you take away all that I was left with!"

Severus was thoroughly surprised by this outburst as he watched Samara's face turning red with her anger. He didn't understand how she could suddenly burn with this fire, when lately she was so disheartened and didn't have any energy for anything at all. Severus stared at her for a moment, feeling that she looked quite feverished and that if she continued this way, she would sure exhaust herself and faint. After all, he was sure he hadn't seen her eat in days. 

"This was not my decision Samara. Your Professors are all concerned about your health and your well being. Your body is not in a fit state to compete in the Dueling Competition and I certainly will not allow you to compete in this state," Severus said sternly as he stared down at her. 

"Well I don't give a damn about what you will or will not allow! You don't own me and I will do whatever the hell I want. You tell Professor Dumbledore that there will be an improvement in me in the following couple days and that everyone needs to butt out of my personal life. I will deal with it on my own. My academics need not suffer for it," Samara yelled angrily before whirling around and walking out of the dungeons, slamming the door shut behind her so hard that Severus could swear he could feel the stone floor tremble beneath him from where he stood across the room. 

---

The change in Samara was undeniable. Everyone was quite surprised when she turned in all the missing work, started showing up consistently to all her classes and even started going back to the Hospital Wing to help Madam Pomfrey. No one could quite account for it, but it wasn't hard for Severus to understand. He could see the fury with which she ate all her meals, the fire behind her eyes when she worked on her assignments and the angry way with which she wrote her essays as you could feel the ridges of her writing on the back of all her essays. 

Seeing this improvement, it was unanimously decided to allow Samara to continue with her duties and the privileges that she had earned. However, it was quite obvious to Samara that she would be watched to see whether or not she would relapse. However, that was not something with which she concerned herself with, as her anger was more than eating her up inside and she was trying to keep it from ruling her life. It was what drove her to eat, breath and work, but Samara knew very well that if she did not check her anger that something quite serious could occur.

It was something that became blatantly obvious when the first day of the Dueling Competition approached. It was generally hoped that for the Semi-finals, as the whether had finally become nicer, that the competition would take place in the Quidditch Field so everyone could better enjoy it. However, as the 18th day of April approached, heavy storm clouds began to build over the grounds, and started to pour on the first day of the competition. The thunder claps were so loud, and their rumbles so alarming that they rattled not only the windowpanes, but some of the younger students as well. 

As Severus, the other Heads of House and Dumbledore all sat front row and center behind a judges table, with Dumbledore in the middle, he couldn't help the way his stomach was churning. He tried to focus on Pandora's speech about how scoring was based on creativity, resourcefulness, speed, form and good sportsmanship, with ten being the highest score obtained. She explained once more the grounds under which students would be disqualified and that each match would be taking 15 minutes. She also explained that in order for the House Competitors to not be too tired, that each one would participate in only one match. 

However, Severus wasn't sure if he would be able to concentrate as he watched Cross take a step back and introduce the first match, which would be Slytherin VS. Ranvenclaw. Severus ignored Zackary Jennings, the tall, thin, Ravenclaw with short, curly black hair and matching eyes and stared across at Samara as the two seventh years crossed over to each other to shake hands. 

Severus was very surprised to see the way that Samara looked so cold a she inclined her head towards her first contender in the slightest of bows. Severus felt slight fear for her safety to see the boy that she would be dueling against. Especially as her eyes seemed to look like they were far away and to see the way that she was frowning. There seemed to be a cloud over her face, and there was a mixed look of pain and anger written on it as she turned around and marched to her position, smoothing out the jeans that she had chose to wear and her tight fitting shirt. The contestants were allowed to wear whatever it was that they felt most comfortable in, and Samara had chosen tight fitting clothes for some reason. 

Taking in her over all appearance, he could see that her eyes were still sunken like she was not sleeping. However, the redness that had taken up residence around her eyes was finally gone and her face seemed to be rid of everything but that cold mask on her face. Seeing Samara, he felt like she had hardened her shell and he wasn't even sure if she was really even residing any longer within her body. There was no indication or marker of the Samara he had fallen for anymore within her. Something about her seemed inhuman, and Severus once more felt that eerie feeling of looking at a reflection of himself when he looked at Samara. Like they were one in the same; like they were the same exact person. 

Shaking his head of these thoughts, Severus watched as Samara and Zackary whirled around to face each other with their wands drawn, waiting for Pandora's command to start. Severus clutched onto his robes as he sat up straighter in his seat, his eyes roving quickly from Samara to Pandora. "Ready? Go," Pandora said, and as soon as the last syllable left her mouth, a flash of silver streaked across over towards the Ravenclaw boy, showing that Samara was indeed very much focused on what was going on around her. 

Severus soon found his anxiety dissipating and his grip on his robes loosen as he watched the onslaught of curses, jinxes and spells that flew over towards the Ravenclaw, who hardly seemed to have time to block himself, let alone send anything back in Samara's direction. Severus looked over at Samara as she was casting nonverbally and could see the fury in her eyes as she sent spell, after spell in quick succession, her hand working furiously with various waves and complicated flicks. She was relentless in trying to break the boys barriers and Severus wondered how long the boy would be able to keep up blocking for. 

Frowning deeply, Severus looked at Professor Flitwick sitting next to him and saw the look of anxiety on the smaller Professors face as he watched his student. Severus looked over the tiny Professors face to look at Dumbledore who was sitting dead center and watching the math impassively, but Severus could see by the look in his blue eyes that he didn't very much like how one-sided this match appeared to be as Dumbledore looked Samara's facial expression intently. Looking to Dumbledore's right at McGonegall and at the last seat at Professor Sprout sitting next to her, he could tell that no one very much liked how very one-sided this match was. 

Turning his gaze away from his colleagues and looking towards the stage, Severus supposed that Samara was doing great, however he knew that there wasn't very much sportsmanship in her face or the way that she was attacking so relentlessly with that look of mad fury burning in her gaze. He knew that she was going to lose many points for that alone and turning his gaze over to the now sweating Ravenclaw who had managed to keep up with Samara, Severus wondered if Samara would lose and if there was any fairness in that. From the sound of the cheering Slytherins, Severus knew that they would think it highly unjust if Samara won. However, looking around at the rest of the houses and the way they were looking on with almost a look of horror on their faces, he knew that everyone else would prefer her to lose. 

Hearing the resounding of the unquestionable sound of a body slamming onto the floor, Severus whirled around to see Zackary, arching his back off the floor, a look of agony on his face. The resounding sound of thunder made everyone jump and there seemed to be a suddenly stillness in the room as Samara at last stopped in her conjuring. Severus turned his gaze away from the writhing Zackary to Samara whose breathing was labored and that cloud that had spread over her face was dissipating. 

The Great Hall stood in dead silence, the sound of the pattering rain almost echoing in the stillness and both competitors breathing almost breaking everyone's eardrums as they watched Zackary try to sit upright. The match was far from over as there was still a full five minutes left to the match, but seeing the exhaustion in Zackary as he tried to sit up, it almost seemed as though there would be a disqualification because he did not seem to be able to compete. 

Pandora looked regretfully as Zackary as she knew that disqualifying him in this match would give him a zero, putting him so far down on the list that it would be impossible for him to win. Stepping forward, she was about to open her mouth to speak, when she heard a thump to her left. Turning around with her brow furrowed, she looked at Samara as she seemed to have fallen on her knees. Furrowing her brow as she did not understand what happened, she could see Samara bending over and breathing hard. 

The silence in the Great Hall only became more intense as the knees beneath Samara gave out and she landed hard on them on the floor, leaning forward in what semed to be obvious exhaustion. The five judges exchanged glances with each other and with Pandora who was acting as referee, none of them really sure what to make of this. Both competitors were not sitting on the floor, panting and to exhausted to go on and no one really knew what to do with this. To disqualify them both seemed absurd. 

Looking over at Dumbledore, Severus could see a strange twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes as he looked towards Samara, the corner of his mouth visible to Severus turning up. Severus cast a glance over at Samara and wondered what the Headmaster was seeing that no one else could. He stared a few moments at Samara, whose eyes were shut tight as she continued to breath laboriously. However, he wondered if she was so exhausted that she was having trouble standing and breathing correctly, why there was no a drop of sweat on her skin, or why all her limbs were so tranquil and he realized that Samara was not at all exhausted and was merely putting on a show. It made him wonder why she would risk disqualification.

The silence of the Great Hall broke as a flash of Slytherin Green and another flash of Ravencalw blue shot up high into the air above Dumbledore's head. Severus looked up to see a green 8 and a blue 7. All the teachers looked at each other for a moment before Minerva pulled out her wand and shot up two streaks, a blue 8 and a green 7. Severus raised his brow as Sprout gave Samara an 8 and Zackary a 9 and Flitwick gave his student a 9 while giving Samara an 6, to which he could hear all the Slytherins complain. 

Pulling out his own wand, Severus grudgingly gave Zackary a nine as well, however, he gave Samara a ten, to which the Slytherins cheered. Writing all the scored down on a parchment on a clipboard, after a minute Professor Cross pulled out her own want and shot to streaks into the air, indicating their final scores, causing the Slytherins to groan to see Samara got a 7.8 and Zackary earning an 8.8.

Having been given an opportunity to rest, both competitors hauled themselves to their feet and over to one another to shake hands. Severus could see by the look on Samara's face that she wasn't too pleased by the scoring, however she did try and smile apologetically to the Ravenclaw she had run down. It was obvious by the grateful look on the boys face and the embarrassed blush that crept up his neck that he was aware that the only reason he wasn't disqualified was because Samara had fallen to her knees. Neither did he seem to pleased with the knowledge that the reason that he'd won was because the Professors thought that Samara wasn't being very good sportsman. 

Severus watched Samara walk down towards a cluster of Slytherins who started to either congratulate her or complain of the injustice committed to her, but it seemed that she was far too lost in her own thoughts to do much else but nod. Severus paid very little attention to the ensuing match as his thoughts turned towards Samara and wondering why she hadn't just allowed the boy to be disqualified. He knew that her score would still have been quite low, but at least she would have been in third place in the running. 

When the following match came to an end and he watched all the other Professors give the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor their scored of eights and nines, Severus realized that Samara had run the risk of being disqualified so that Zackary had a chance. For a moment, as he pulled his wand out to give his own scored, Severus felt a twinge of jealousy to think that Samara had shown him such courtesy for a reason. However, he knew that her reasons were noble and that she'd never really had anything to do with that boy. 

Knowing that the scores of the Ashley Wilson and Eric Williamson would be higher than Samara's, he tried to even the score sheet a bit even by sending up a black 5 and a scarlet 4. The Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs all groaned in complaint to see the potions master hand out such low scores. However, there seemed to be nothing they could do and they all watched as Professor Cross composited the scored. The Black figure 8 she sent up seemed to place Ashley Wilson in second place, behind Zachary, the scarlet 7.8 landing Eric Williamson in third place with Samara Green. Suffices to say that no one but the Ravenclaws left the Great Hall pleased, yet they were all looking forward to the following Semi-finals match. Not something that Severus was greatly looking forward to.

**TBC...**

**A/N: **Sorry for the short chapter and the long wait. I haven't really felt like writing anything lately. Anyway, please review and I will try to get the next chapter up soon. I probably should say that the ending of Gumby is actually coming soon, since I did say Gumby was going to end with the end of Samara's seventh year. There will be a sequel, which the events are already running through my head and I shall tell you of the title for it when I've come up with it. 


	81. Sprint

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 81: Sprint  
**_

April faded away as fast as a blink of an eye. Ignoring the existence of Samara as she picked up some semblance to normalcy became easier. However, being in close proximity to her, walking by her and smelling her smell of Pomegranates, made his heart clench and his breath to hitch every time. He could push away the pain that he felt, bottle it deep down inside of himself where it was impossible for any sign of it to reach the surface and penetrate his well trained look of cold steel. However, that pain was impossible to escape in his private quarters when the darkness seemed to embrace him and hide all the shames of his weakness. The monster of misery that raged inside of him, that he caged up every day, seemed to be set free in the darkness and wreak havoc.

Despite the warmth that came in with the May breeze, Severus couldn't help but feel the constant cold of the dungeons following him around. If it were possible, the sour potions master was becoming far more taciturn, cruel and sarcastic. Any pity he may have ever called up for anyone disappeared completely and the only person that escaped him was Samara. It seemed that she would forever be a weakness for him. Though he did try his best to ignore her existence or pass her off like any other student.

She in turn seemed to be trying to settle some balance within herself. She'd suddenly stopped being a gymnast and became a tight rope walker, trying to keep from teetering into her dark side, but not being capable of reaching her light side either. At best, what she could do was bottle up the pain until she was alone to let it lose, however, her anger was becoming harder and harder to control. She found it hard to hold onto the things that really mattered; her school work, her self-image and it was all slipping away because she couldn't control her anger.

There were times in Potions class were her hands would positively twitch to flip over the bubbling cauldron and dump all its contents to the floor, because she was so angry with Severus that she wanted to destroy his classroom. She knew it was immature to want to flip out, destroy his things and cause a scene, she knew that it wouldn't really make her feel better or fix anything, she knew that in fact, it would make things worse. However, despite knowing all this, she was having a hard time reigning in all her impulses and controlling her anger.

She wanted to yell at him to look at her. She wanted him to stop pretending that she didn't exist and that what they had, had never happened. She wanted to know why it was that he wasn't having a hard time like she was. Why he wasn't dying with every breath that he took like she was. She wanted to know if he was just pretending. She wanted to know if he too found it near impossible to drag himself out of bed, when every fiber in his being was telling him to just lay there and never live again. But she found that she could do no such thing. That despite all her anger, her pain seemed to outweigh her desire to lash out against him and publickly out him and what they had.

Samara was well aware it was within her scope to destroy his career and she knew that it would only be so simple. She knew that she knew far more than enough about him to be able to ruin his life. However, despite the way that darker side of her pointed out how simple it would be to inflict on him pain, she always pushed the thought away. No matter how angry she was and how overwhelming the darkness could be, she couldn't bring herself to do that to him. Because she still loved him and she knew that she always would. Because even if he had caused her pain, she knew she couldn't purposefully do that to him.

"Hey Samara what are you doing?" Samara looked up from staring at the green grass and smiled very weakly at Nymphadora Tonks and Charlie Weasley as they made their way over to where she was sitting. She'd once more been lost in her dark thoughts as she stared out across the green expanse of the lake. She was trying to remember the common room and how she used to enjoy staring at the lake from beneath it. However, she could no longer bring herself to enter Slytherin because she found the pangs she felt in her heart far too much to deal with. She thoroughly tried to avoid anything in associating with Severus, which was impossible considering she was still at Hogwarts, counting down the days to June when she could finally take her NEWTs and leave.

"Nothing, just staring out at the lake," she replied as she ran a hand through her hair.

"Its so unfair that you are in third place you know. But at least Williamson knocked Zachary Jennings into second place last saturday," Charlie said excited as he sat down opposite of the seventh year Slytheirn, while Tonks sat besides her. Samara merely nodded in response, not really wanting to talk about the second Semi-Finals matches. She had gotten quite sick in the past week hearing from her fellow Slytherins that it was an injustice that she was in third place when so far she had beaten both the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff competitors. However, Samara really didn't care whether she won or lost. She was just putting up with it to have a distraction from everything else going on in her life. She supposed that at least she wasn't in fourth place like Ashley Wilson.

"Yes, Eric was very good last Saturday. I'm looking forward to next Saturdays match when I finally get to go up against him," Samara said, though her tone was anything but excited as she turned back to look back at the expanse of the lake. Tonks and Charlie both exchanged worried glances. Despite only being twelve years old, they weren't blind to the fact that there was something severely wrong with Samara.

"How come you aren't going to Hogsmead today with your friends?" Tonks asked, trying to call the Head Girls attention back to the present and away from her troubling thoughts. Samara blinked slowly and looked at the second year who's hair today seemed to be caught between a bubblegum pink color and lilac. She supposed that the girl had been trying to turn her short, straight hair from one color to another and had gotten it stuck halfway.

"I'm not really in the mood to deal with all my friends going on about the fact that I'm in third place," Samara replied with a shrug. It wasn't a full out lie, so she didn't feel bad about it. However, she was getting weary of conversation and she supposed that she wasn't making the two second years any more comfortable with her somewhat taciturn disposition.

"Snape musn't be too happy about that, huh? He's been a right git lately, probably expects you to win," Charlie said, trying to get Samara to laugh. However, a sharp pang went through Samara to hear him mentioned and she could feel her eyes tear up. Looking quickly away, Samara pretended to be staring at something in the distance of the Dark Forest while she blinked angrily her tears away.

"Samara... what's wrong?" Tonks suddenly asked, somewhat timidly. Samara slowly turned to look at the second year Hufflepuff, whom she had grown very fond of since she'd met her back in her sixth year. Considering everything that had happened since, she felt like that was ages ago.

"It's just, NEWTs are less than a month away. I have a lot of studying to do and I'll be leaving shortly after that. There is hardly going to be anytime for me to enjoy what is left of my days at Hogwarts and in some ways this has been my only home," Samara replied simply as she turned to look back at the castle, thinking about everything that she was going to shortly be leaving behind and feeling completely torn by it. She still loved Snape so much and the thought of never seeing him again... she knew that it was probably for the best, but she still couldn't help but feel like she'd rather die than have him disappear from her life. She wasn't sure how she was able to go on and she knew that she would never be able to love anyone the way that she loved him. NEVER.

Charlie and Tonks exchanged glances, not really understanding what she meant that it was her only home. Neither one of them really knew anything at all about her home life and Charlie realized that Bill had never mentioned anything about it either. "Well... you still have a month. And if you don't make it to the finals next week... that will give you more time to do what you want to do," Charlie said softly. He didn't think that it was too likely that Samara would be able to make it into the finals. As he saw it, he thought that the finalist would be Williamson and Jennings.

He supposed that he should be excited about the fact that Williamson was in first place, considering he was a Gryffindor. However, he didn't like him much, mainly because Bill didn't seem to like him very much anymore. It wasn't really anything personal, Eric Williamson was a good person, but Charlie guessed that it had a lot to do with the fact that Eric Williamson was in love with Samara, just like Bill apparently was and had been for quite sometime. However, Charlie guessed that Bill would get over her. After all, Bill had two more years at Hogwarts in which Samara would be gone. And He knew that Bill was very popular amongst the girls at Hogwarts.

"I suppose," Samara said simply before standing up. "I'll see you two around. I really shouldn't be waisting my time like this, I have a lot of studying to do," Samara said as she cast one last miserable glance across the lake before turning to head back to the castle. She wished that she really did have time to wallow in her misery, but the fact was that she didn't have time to do any such thing. She had six NEWTs to prepare for and if she wanted to become a Healer, which when she left Hogwarts was all that she would have left, she needed to get at least five Outstandings.

The following Saturday, Severus paid very little mind as Ashley Wilson beat Zachary Jennings in their Dueling Match. Giving both of them low scored, gave Samara the opportunity to at least place second in her upcoming match against Eric Williamson. He hardly found the way that they were picking their winners to be very fair as he knew well enough that Samara would have already won this competition were it not for the comulative scoring and the fact that she had lost a lot of possible points because of the first match.

However, Severus didn't care about any of this when he watched Samara take her place opposite of Eric. Outside of class and meal times, Severus hardly ever Samara around. And he could tell by the deep bags beneath her eyes and the constant look of determination on her face that she wasn't preoccupied by anything but her studies. It was apparent that she was striving very hard to achieve her goals and he had no doubt that she was going to do just that in the end.

Watching with very little interest, he watched as the Gryffindor and Slytherin seventh years bowed slightly towards each other and returned to their places, both students looking a bit too tired to attempt any friendliness. "Their studies for NEWTs is really tiring them out isn't it? Its amazing that they all have the energy to still compete in this competition," he heard Professor Flitwick say.

"Pandora has made sure that all of the competitors are checked out by Poppy and that they take energizing potions and vitamin potions every morning," Professor Dumbledore said with a mild smile as the two seventh years took their stances. Severus listened to this with very little interest, though finally understand why Madam Pomfrey had asked for such a large stock of those two particular potion. Not that he much minded to question her about it. It did give him a little bit of extra work to do so that he could take his mind off of Samara and the fact that her school days were soon going to come to their end and that he would more than likely, never see her again.

As the first several streaks of light lit up the Great Hall Severus tried to pay attention to the action going on, but instead found himself watching Samara. Her face remained expressionless, despite its deep focus in what she was doing. Her eyes were hollow as they usually were this day, with barely a light of determinations in them. Was she not moving her body to make complicated wand flicks and maneuvers, she would appear to be completely immobile like a statue. And Severus knew that he was the cause for it.

Severus had long known what every seventh year was going through and he knew that what Samara was going through was much more painful. While it was very common for a seventh year to be stressed, tired and a little sad about the end of their career at Hogwarts, they were also supposed to be full of excitement and hope about the future. Perhaps they would feel a bit of fear, but it was supposed to be intermingled with the adrenaline rush of new prospects. All of this was lacking in Samara. She merely seemed desperate to get away, but seemed to have no hope at all for her future prospects. And if he was incorrect, he had to say that even though she was dying to get away from the castle, that it was killing her just as much that her time was running out.

For his part, Severus couldn't internally deny that he was dying too. She was leaving and he was scared of never seeing her again. His heart was broken into a million pieces to realize that his greatest dreams would never be realized and that he would die alone, longing for the love of his life. He had resigned himself to his fate of dying alone when Lily Potter had passed away, however, then Samara had come into his life and for some reason that he could not at all fathom, he had allowed himself to fall for her. Sure he felt that he couldn't really control it, but everything could have been quite different, had he continued to refuse her and push her away. Instead, he had let her in. He had allowed his weakness to get the better of him.

Pulling his mind out of his distressing thoughts, he tried to focus on the present. It was becoming easily apparent to Severus that this match was more evenly matched than any of the others and that both students were getting more and more excited by this duel than any other. He could see that Samara's eyes were beginning to sparkle with excitement and that she wanted to laugh as beads of sweat started to appear on her forehead as she furiously conjured spells, jinxes, shields and counter-jinxes.

Looking over at the Gryffindor boy, who's brown hair now reached past his shoulders and was tied up in a pony-tail, he could see that they boy was just as excited by the broad grin on his face. He too was beginning to sweat like the Head Girl and was working just as furiously to bring down her defenses while trying desperately to protect himself. And then, almost as if it occurred in slow motion, Severus saw it happen. Samara faltered as a bead of sweat fell into her eyes, forcing her to blink it away several times.

The momentary, nanosecond which she was blinded, was long enough for Eric Williamson to shoot off a spell that hit her squarely in the chest and sent her flying backwards. Severus was relieved that he wasn't the only one of the teachers to twitch forward in anxiety as if they could do something to help the Head Girl from breaking her neck on landing. The angle at which she flew backwards and the way her back arched backwards, her head craning back as her body flipped made it look almost certain that when she touched the ground, her neck would snap, and there was no time for anyone to stop the inevitable.

Severus felt his heart pounding hard in his ribs as the moment moved my as if it were happening, still frame by still frame, his body moving too sluggishly to be humanly possible. However, out of nowhere, Samara's left hand darted up, or down as was she was flipping backwards and touched the floor before her head could. Her legs swung forward and she landed crouched on her feet.

Time seemed to move forward quickly once more after these heart-wrenching seconds. Severus could see the look of pain on Samara's face as she pulled her wand arm out and from her crouching position cast a spell towards Williamson, before standing up and following up with another, cradling her left hand to her chest.

Williamson for his part, seemed horrified by the idea of what could have happened to Samara and was therefore caught off guard when she managed to flip onto her feet and shoot off a spell in his direction. He hardly had anytime to hop over the spell that flew his feet out from under him and landed squarely on his face, missing the second spell that Samara had shot off from the end of her wand. Almost as if he could fee the following spell aiming towards him on the ground, Eric rolled onto his side, and from lying on his back cast the next couple spells, trying to distract Samara so that he could get to his feet.

When the match came to its culmination and the two contestants shook hands, smiling broadly with the adrenaline flowing through their veins and breathing quite heavily. It was up to the judges to decide who had won this very close match and seeing how impossible it was, it ended in a match, leaving the total of all the scored to figure out who would be competing in the finals.

The entire hall seemed to hold their breath as they waited. Everyone was greatly surprised when in the end Zachary Jennings was handed third place, and Ashley Wilson actually took second. However, no one seemed too greatly surprised, though a few gasps did escape a few students when they realized that first place was a match between Samara and Eric, a great pleasure it seemed to everyone in the Great Hall as they knew that this meant when finals came, the rematch would be very exciting.

**TBC...**

**Authors note: **I'm still unsure what I'm going to name the sequel, but don't worry. There are still about two or three more chapters of Gumby to come. I'm sorry about the excessive wait, but I'm starting to have problems with my internet. Anyway, please leave a review and thank you for sticking with it!


	82. Unfinished Business

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 82: Unfinished Business  
**_

When June rolled in, it seemed that all the fifth years and seventh years had become frazzled zombies. You hardly ever spotted them outside of the library and if you did, most of them had their noses buried deep inside a book, or chanting to themselves passages from books that they had read millions of times for their quickly upcoming OWLs and NEWTs. Many of them had deep circles beneath their sunken, hollow eyes and looked like they had not bothered to run their brushes through their hair in days. Every once in a while, you would see one struggling to stay awake while eating breakfast and often times when someone was asleep, they would wake up yelling "Troll, but I studied so HARD!" Many of the younger students would have looked at them and snickered, however they knew that that would be them in only a few short years and that sobered them quite quickly.

The day of the Finals match found Samara sitting on her bed, far away from the hang ups of upcoming NEWTs. The competition was an hour away and yet she had yet to be able to move from her bed, where she sat, staring at the necklace in her hand. From the very first day that Severus had given it to her, she had been unable to take it off. Her heart panged to stare at it, and think of the lovely memory of their first date. It had been so perfect.

Reaching over from her bed to her nightstand, she pulled out several flowers and her quill and stared at them, before grabbing a sheet of parchment and transfiguring it into a somewhat sturdy box. Picking up the yellow tulip, which was now dry and darker in color, had still been preserved. She remembered what he said it meant, 'there is sunshine in your smile', however as she stuck it in the box, all she could think about was how there was no more sunshine. Just like she could not think that there was anything sweet about her anymore, and that he flame in her heart had been at last snuffed out.

Gingerly placing the Narcissus and Blue Camelia inside the box, she turned her gaze away to the remaining flowers. She stared at the Red Carnation and the beautiful little Daffodil as tears built up in her eyes. She thought of everything she felt that was taken from her, and thought of all that was left and could not bear the thought of placing these last two flowers along with the others. Instead, she had something else in store for them.

Taking off her music box and placing it inside the box with the feather, she tried to think of anything else that he had ever given her, or of anything else that reminded her of him. Being unable to think of anything else, Samara closed the lid and got up from bed, heading over to the foot of her bed where he trunk sat undisturbed. Opening it, she gently placed the box inside, burying it deep inside where soon enough it would be covered up by all her belongings when her NEWTs came to a close.

Slowly rising, Samara walked over to her wardrobe and pulled on a set of school robes and lazily tied her hair up in a pony-tail. Walking back over to her nighstand, she picked up her wand and stowed it inside of her robes. Ignoring the two potions that were sitting on her nighstand, she picked up the Carnation and Daffodil and gently tucked them inside her robes as she made her way out of her room.

As she walked, she tried to reign in all her emotions and box them away somewhere where they would not affect her. For a brief moment, she imagined every pain, thought and emotion as carrying, colorful rose petals and dropping them inside a wooden box and lighting it on fire. She imagined standing back, watching fire consume everything that was her love, her anger, her hate, compassion, pain and anything else that she could possibly feel until there was nothing left but ashes. She imagined taking those ashes that had not flown free into the air with all the black smoke and had gathered on the bottom of the box, carrying it to the lake, and dumping them there, box and all.

Would it be so terrible, to allow the lake to wash away everything that was human inside her and to just leave the shell there to rot? There seemed something to that as she opened her eyes and continued to make her way down the stairs. She already felt as though she were being consumed by some weak flame, terribly slowly burning everything that she was inside and she wondered when the day would finally come when there was nothing but ash inside her. She wondered if that day would ever come, considering how slowly she was burning alive.

Samara breathed in very slowly, aware of every slow breath that she took because with everyone, she wondered why continue doing it? She no longer had any desire or will to live and getting out of bed was next to impossible. The only reason that she dragged herself out of bed was because she knew that even if she could lay in bed, allow herself to starve and dehydrate till death came, she knew that someone would come looking for her long before that day would come and questions that she did not wise to answer would arise.

However, she had put enough tought into more efficient ways to dying, but when it came down to it, she simply couldn't. Despite desiring it with all her littl broken heart, despite being so tired and weary of the pretense of being all right and all the troubles that living was, she couldn't bring herself to end her life and it angered her to know why. She wouldn't care to be angry if she were afraid of death, or if she had hopes that her future would at least become bearable and that the pain would eventually ease, but those were not the reasons that she still clung to her worthless life.

As she reached the ground floor and passed it up to continue onto the dungeons, she thought about the blasted thing within her breath that kept her rooted to this plane of existence; Hope. Despite everything that she had lived thought, despite _his_ convictions that they were over and could never be together, despite all the pain and anger that she felt towards him, and despite feeling that maybe he was right, her stubborn little heart kept clinging to hope. It kept clinging to her conviction that they were meant to be together and hoping that one day, maybe they would be able to be together and that everything would finally be perfect.

Samara was angry and hated herself for the stupid conviction and desire for that to be true. She felt that if she could let that go, that then she would be more ready to leave this life behind and be free of all the pain that she felt. She knew that Severus really did love her, despite pushing her away, but she didn't care about the pain that her death would cause him. She knew that it was very selfish of her to think that way, and she knew that in some way it would hurt others and not just Severus, but she didn't care about that or anyone. All she cared about was the pain that she felt and the fact that she didn't think she was strong enough to put up with it.

Closing her eyes and breathing in deeply the cold air of the dungeons, she sighed unhappily. That stupid hope was still there, rooting itself inside her, and while it was there, she wouldn't be able to end her life; despite the fact that her ruling emotion these days reflected those of a heart that had been completely vaporized. She supposed that if she could muster up more hate and anger towards Severus, than perhaps her main goal in life would not be death but vengeance, but she knew that those desires would never surpass the passions of her love, which was pure. She supposed also that if her love treaded on the darker waters of passion, that perhaps even then vengeance on him would be possible, but in that aspect her love also failed her.

"Severus, I can't thank you enough for co-sponsoring the Dueling club. Professor Dumbledore says that perhaps next year I'll be able to continue running it," Samara paused and stepped closer to the shadows of the wall as Severus and Cross emereged from his office. She raised a brow as she looked at Cross, who did seem more grateful, but as always was flirtatiously smiling at Severus, who did not seem as sour as he usually did of late.

For his part, Severus took out all his anger and frustrations on his students, but with the rest of the staff he tried to remain as civil as was normal for him, which wasn't very much to be honest. However, he reserved his glares and for the most part his grimaces for his students. "Not at all," Severus said coolly. He was blatantly ignoring the fact that she was smiling in a way that made him slightly uneasy, though he of course would never betray such a thing. He didn't know how, but Pandora made him regress back to the days when he felt like nothing more than an awkward teen. It wasn't something that he liked, but what bothered him more was that he did not understand why she had that affect on him.

Pandora Cross smiled at him as she leaned forward and gave him a brief hug. Severus froze in her grasp as he felt her arms around him and found himself frowning as she pulled away. "Thank you so much," Pandora said as she smiled up at him and slowly turned around and started to walk away.

Samara closed her eyes as she leaned against the wall and closed her eyes, sliding down its surface to crouch down. She could feel tears building up in her eyes once more and pain ripping through her entire core. She had never put any thought to the fact that Cross would be staying when she had to leave at the end of the year and the thought of Cross remaining at Hogwarts with Severus was unbearable to her. She had already seen what Cross had done in the short year that she imposed herself at Hogwarts, she wondered what she could achieve in a few more years.

Pushing the pain away, she felt anger build up inside of her. She was starting to think that the great secret of Severus' past was the fact that he had fallen in love with someone and had never stopped loving her. She knew that he loved Lily Potter much more than he ever let on and somehow she thought that she was the reason behind his living in Spinners End and visiting the park that Sunday morning. It wasn't that had to figure out that they had grown up near each other and in all probability met in that park. She began to think that perhaps Lily was the love of his life and that he couldn't allow himself to love her completely because Lily was always there.

It angered her to think that she only came in second place. It wasn't a position that she could stand. Samara didn't want second place in anything, she always strived to be the best in everything that she did. However, after having watched Cross she knew that she wouldn't allow anyone to take her place if she could help it. She recognized that it was a bit petty for her to destroy Severus' chance to be with anyone, but it wasn't her fault that they weren't together. He ended things and she still really didn't know or understand why. And she couldn't deny the fact that she hated Professor Cross.

Wiping furiously away at her tears, Samara waited for Severus and Cross both to exit the dungeons before standing up. walking over towards his office, Samara broke into his office. She really didn't have to break in, considering the fact that she knew all the spells and wards on his doors and the fact that he hadn't thought to change them when they broke up. However, Samara had no mischief in mind as she walked into his office, closing the door behind herself and walkign over to his desk. Once behind it, she pulled out the Daffodil and Carnation that she had been carrying with her and places them in his top drawer before exiting his office.

As she made her way down the hallways and towards the Great Hall, she wondered if he would understand what she meant by giving him those two flowers. She knew that he knew that the flowers meant that 'you are the only one' and 'my heart aches for you', but she wondered if he understood that it was the way that she felt. She wondered if he would understand that it was the way that she would always feel and more so, she wondered if he could believe it.

However, as she emerged at the top of the stairs and entered the Great Hall along with everyone else, she pushed as her pain aside and tried to focus on the match that she was going to take place. She supposed that she had plenty of time to formulate a plan to get rid of Cross after she was through with the competition. However, she supposed that she would have to come up with something quite different than the stunt she pulled with the baby accromantula's. Whatever she did had to be complete untraceable to her.

**TBC...**

**Authors Note: **I apologize for the long wait and for the short chapter. I decided to already post this chapter, even though I was going to make it a lot longer by adding the Dueling Match in it. However, I thought that by the time I had that written, it would be several more day and I didn't wish to agonize anyone by making you wait longer still. Anyway, please review.

The sequel is called Eternal Sunshine and I've started to work on the first chapter.


	83. Defeating Opponents

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 83: Defeating Opponents**_

Severus sat back and watched as Samara and Williamson bowed towards one another and took up their stances for the beginning of the Dueling match. The tension in the Great Hall was palpable as everyone watched with oppressed excitement in silence as Cross counted off towards the beginning of the match. Severus wondered as he stared at Samara's face, how she could stand the tension and look so calm and serene as her gaze was locked on Williamson and unwilling to move anywhere else. However, he fond himself more worried and pained by the thought that in two weeks she would be taking her NEWTs and very shortly afterwards would be leaving Hogwarts forever. His heart panged at the very thought of losing her, despite knowing that it was all for the best.

"Three," as soon as the words had fallen from Cross' lips, two streaks of light passed by each other to their intended targets, both who managed to deflect the spell and shoot off another. Within minutes the Great Hall became lit by colorful displays of light, very few managing to land on their intended targets, despite the accuracy with which they were shot out. While Williamson was hit with a leg locking charm he had managed to disarms Samara, however in a quick back flip Samara caught her wand in the air and landed several feet behind, shooting off a curse in Eric's direction.

By that time Eric had managed to disentangle himself and shoot off a curse, which exploded on collisions with Samara's. However, this stopped neither Dueler as they continued to cast furiously, sweat sprouting on both of their foreheads. Getting frustrated at not making any headway, Samara split her legs so that she landed on the floor and cast a low spell in Eric's direction that he was not able to block as it was so low.

Having gained the upper-hand, Samara got to her feet and cast a few harmless spells that hardly inflicted damage on Eric, but kept him far too occupied while he got back to his feet to be able to effectively to his feet. However, he had just barely gotten his footing when Samara cast a spell that hit him square in the chest and sent him sprawling backwards and onto his back where she cast a binding spell as ropes magically appeared and began to crawl over his body and wrap themselves around him. However, Eric managed to free himself of the ropes before they could tie his hands to his side and make his wand useless.

Sitting up, Eric cast a spell towards Samara which she easily jumped over, however, having preempted her move he knocked her legs out from under he was she was coming down and made her land squarely on her chest with a loud thud on the floor and a groan from Samara. Gritting her teeth Samara arched her back, rolling her feet forward as she raised her upper body on her arms, just before her feet planted themselves on either side of her head and rolling her back forward so that she stood on her feet, causing people to gasp at the flexibility exhibited by the move and for a moment stunning Eric from making any move as he stood with his wand pointed at her.

Taking advantage of his shock, she flicked her wand at him, causing his wand to slip from his grasp and fly backwards a she ran towards him before tossing her body in a series of different flips before her body flew over his, landed on her hands and continued to flip back and manage to snatch his wand from the air and land several feet behind him with her wand in her hands.

The entire hall gasped and gaped with mouths hung open as they stared at Samara who held both wands in her hand. They were amazed by the speed and force with which she had flipped not only over Eric himself, who was quite tall, but also manage to get to his wand before it hit the floor. Eric himself felt his knees shaking, as it was quite the unique experience to look up and see someone's body flying above you. He had bent back slightly out of fear of being decapitated by her quickly spiraling body over-head, however, he was amazed when she touched down behind him and kept flipping her body towards her goal.

As the hall suddenly burst into applause, Severus and the rest of the judges exchanged glances of uncertainty. For his part it was apparent that the match was over, even though Cross seemed incapable of recovering and calling the match to an end. However, Severus wondered if everyone was thinking that Samara had an unfair advantage over her opponent considering all the years that she had taken Gymnastics. However, that didn't seem to matter as Dumbledore suddenly stood up and proclaimed Samara the winner and told her that a plaque would be made in her honor and placed with the rest of the trophies.

Severus merely sat back and watched as Samara nodded in response as she panted. However, after watching her gaze slowly, he leaned forward, noting that something was wrong. Suddenly As Eric approached Samara and they shook hands, Severus stood as Samara began to sway before collapsing into the arms of Eric in what appeared to be a dead faint. Striding over quickly, Severus and a few other teachers approached the stage as everyone looked on with concern and confusion.

As Severus neared, he watched in concern as Pomfrey knelt beside the heavily circled girl as she lay in the arms of Williamson as he knelt and held her up. Severus felt small pangs of jealousy as he saw the way that the boy tenderly held onto him, thought a bigger part of his desired to be able to be the one to hold her and push aside the strands of hair that Samara was never capable of entrapping in a ponytail and that now hung before her eyes as Pomfrey ran diagnostic spells over Samara before rousing her.

"You didn't take your vitamin potion or your energy potion this morning, did you Samara?" Madam Pomfrey asked very sternly and with disapproval tainting her voice as Samara opened her eyes and slowly sat up, holding onto Eric's reassuring arms around her. She merely shook her head as Madam Pomfrey shoved a vial in her hand and forced her to drink it. After a moment, Samara looked over at Eric and smiled at him weakly as she asked him to help her up.

"Thank you Eric," Samara said as she smiled politely as Eric as she pulled out of his hands. He merely smile din return as he nodded and shook her hand as everyone stepped away from them and the hall burst into applause once more.

"Should've known better than to stand between you and first place," Eric grinned at her and smiled. Samara merely smiled a little more broadly at this as she turned to the rest of the hall and bowed, causing Severus to raise a brow at this. He had never seen Eric and Samara around each other very often, but it seemed apparent that the boy knew Samara better than he thought that he should, because clearly he knew Samara's determination and ambition very well, not something that very many people knew about her.

--

For the following couple days, it was hard for Samara to be able to go anywhere without someone coming up to her and congratulating her. Samara used these several days to concoct her plan and when it was formed, to concoct the potion she would be slipping in Cross' drinks for every meal. She made sure to cloak the potion enough and leave so very little of the potion in each drink that trace amounts of it in her system would not be able to be found. Sneaking down to the kitchens before every meal, she slipped her way to where she knew that Cross sat directly above and always added the potion to the same drink that she always had.

When at last everyone began to leave her alone once more and she settled deeply into her NEWTs studies, she stopped appearing in the Great Hall for any meals and when anyone asked, she replied that she was taking them in her rooms, which was true enough for breakfast and occasionally when she chose to eat dinner. By all outward appearances, nothing much had changed in the Head Girl and no one seemed to notice at all the way that she closely observed Professor Cross whenever the two were in the same vicinity.

However, the change that was coming over Cross was becoming apparent to her colleagues and some of her students. She was gradually becoming more and more vexed. At first it appeared very slight annoyance that anyone could have, but they soon noticed that her irritability was mounting. Absolutely anything seemed to be cause enough for her to snap at someone, and it seemed to most that Samara and Pandora got the brunt of her aggressions for they seemed to be the greatest of annoyance to her.

No one questioned why Pandora Cross seemed to be vexed by Aurora and Samara. After all, many of the Professors were aware of the fight that Pandora and Aurora had in the teachers lounge several months ago and they understood that the two didn't care very much for each other. As for Pandora's dislike for the Head Girl, many of the seventh years had seen the way that the Head Girl interacted with Pandora and understood why. While Samara always maintained a tone that was polite, her words and the way that she looked at Cross so innocently, conveyed not only the disdain that Samara held towards her and the lack of respect that the girl held for her. However, none of the subtle insults that Samara launched warranted a punishment as in they were delivered in true Slytherin fashion.

The days of June quickly slipped by and soon the Great Hall was teeming with the comings and goings of fifth years and seventh years for their exams. "Thank Merlin I'm done," Nate said as he and Samara exited the Great Hall for their Charms NEWt on their last day of exams. Samara merely cast a side-long glance at Nate, but said nothing as she buried herself deeply in her exam questions and mulled over whether or not she had gotten them all correctly. A lot was riding on whether or not she got Os on all her NEWTs and while she was confident that so far she would have Os all across the board, she was nonetheless worried.

"Good for you. I still have my Astronomy NEWT tonight," Samara said as they made their way out onto the grounds to lounge about with the rest of the fifth and seventh years that were celebrating the end of exams. Samara tried to think of her exams and nothing else as she sat with her _friends _on the grounds and tried not to think about whether or not the second part of her plan was going to go as smoothly as she had hoped and hoping that Cross would be sacked before she left Hogwarts in a few days.

Running her hands through her hair and going over the responses and thinking back to what she had written, she sighed thinking that she had written all the answers correctly and looked over at Nate, Tim and Ethan, all three boys merely lounging around. She felt a little anxious and desperate for it to be night already, partly to get her last NEWT over with, but also to see if the second part of her plan to work. She wasn't nervous about the fact that she could somehow get caught, though no one knew what she was up to and she had been very discreet and careful to make it as untraceable as possible. However, she was worried that her plan might not run smoothly. Knots were forming in her stomach to think that something would go wrong and that she would leave with Cross still teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Despite her concerns, the day pressed on, though at a painful rate. For most of the day, Samara spend it couped up in the library with her nose buried in various astronomy charts and different books, cramming every bit of information that she could into her head and trying to clear her mind of anything else that might plague her. She wasn't greatly worried about her Astronomy NEWT. Mainly because she would have no use for it when she would be a Healer and therefore that particular score was of no real importance. However, she had no desire to disappoint Professor Sinistra and considering the fact that she could stand taking second in anything, she supposed it would only make sense to strive for the best in everything that she did.

Before long she had to slip out of the library and down into the kitchens without anyone noticing and slipping an Aggression Potion in Cross' drink before heading back out. However, as she stepped out into the hallway, she found herself come face to face with Severus and immediately felt her heart begin to pound in her chest as she felt tears build up in her eyes. "What are you doing here?" Severus asked as he looked down at her once he felt his throat clear. This was the first time he had been alone with Samara in quite some time and he felt like all the wind had been knocked out of his lungs as he stared down at her. He found it difficult as he stared down at the startled girl to not reach out and wish to satiate his being hers by just holding onto her tightly. However, he pushed these desires deep within himself with all his heartache and pain.

"Study break, I came for a quick snack," Samara replied quickly as she hardened her gaze on him and tried to steady her breathing. Suddenly all the anger that she had felt earlier was bubbling up inside her and she wanted to know why everything had ended quite so abruptly. Furrowing her brows as she stared at him, she glared at him as her mind went over all the wonderful moments that they had shared. "Why didn't you ever just tell me the truth?!" she suddenly hissed out angrily as she looked at him, making him reel back. "If Lily Potter was the love of your life and you couldn't love me as much as you loved her than why did you ever let me believe that you loved me?!"

Severus frowned deeply at this as he wondered where all of this was suddenly coming from and it panged him to hear her speak of their love like this. How could she have any doubt that he loved her? He let her control him like no other woman ever had. He let her get away with everything that she wanted. She was his weakness, and he was everything that he wanted to love and protect? He allowed her closer to him than he had ever allowed anyone else and how could she think that he did not love her. "Samara I do love you-"

"But not as much as you loved her right?" she asked angrily as a single tear slipped from her face and she brushed it angrily away. "How could you... how could you make me second place in your affections! What, because you couldn't get your sun you were willing to settle for any other bloody star in the sky? What am I to you... Polaris, Sirius, Vega or some other innocuous star of insignificance?! If you couldn't give me all your heart why did you give me any of it? Why couldn't you just be the cold, cruel ogre you are with everyone else with me and just left me alone!" she hissed out, feeling like yelling and tearing her hair out. "You were my sun, Severus... how could you give me the discourtesy of making me some tiny, spec in your sky."

"Samara you are so much more to me-"

"Enough Severus, I don't want to hear anymore of your lies! Tell my the truth! Admit that you were just toying with my heart all along for your own sadistic pleasure," Samara cried as tears started to slip down her face and she once more brushed them angrily away. "LOOK AT WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO ME! You've made me into a weak fool, no better than my mother! It was nasty trick you pulled to get rid of me when I was too weak to fight you back and... I even begged you to stay with me! And why? Why should I fight for a man who's whole heart belongs to someone who not only pass away long ago, but who fell in love with someone else and started a family of her own!" she said, her voice becoming louder as Severus cast a look around and motioned for her to keep it down, relieved slightly that everyone should be in the Great Hall having dinner. Brushing the tears that had emerged out of her face, she took in a deep and calming breath as she stared at him. "If you didn't want me... why didn't you tell me from the beginning that you would never love me because you were in love with someone else?" Samara asked in a harsh whisper as she looked at him.

"Samara-" however, before he could say anything they heard the sound of footsteps in the hallway and they both turned to see Professor Cross making her way down the hallway, looking at them with her brow furrowed. Samara and Severus both felt all the color in their faces fade as they watched her slowly approaching them with her brow deeply furrowed, wondering just how much she had been able to hear. Samara felt all her anger subside for a moment as she exchanged glances with Severus, both thinking that considering where Cross was standing she shouldn't have been able to hear that last part of what she said. However, Samara had previously speaking loud enough for Pandora to hear what she had said.

"What are you doing down here Professor Cross," Samara asked in a coldly civil voice as she stood up straighter and tried to regulate her breathing.

"Why didn't I see it before," Pandora said to herself as she looked between Samara and Severus with a look of deep distaste as she did so. Turning her gaze over to Samara, she hardened her eyes as she glared over at the girl that she felt was far too insolent and cunning for her own good. It was something that she was quite sick of. "I think that I will be asking all the questions here Green. You know I've gotten quite sick of your little sweet act and the way that everyone loves you so much. Even Snape apparently," Pandora said as she shot a scathing look at Severus who merely glowered at her, though he did see how Pandora had them pinned.

"You are one to talk Cross. From the moment you set foot in the castle you've bent yourself on charming the entire castle and slithering your way into the hearts and laps of everyone you see fit," Samara spat angrily at Cross who looked affronted by this as Severus turned to look at Samara with a pleasing look, which she caught. "Oh give it up Severus. We're caught. Part of being a Slytherin is knowing when the jig is up and how to act accordingly," Samara said as she glared at him. Despite their predicament, she was still angry at him, but she knew it was more important to keep her head. Turning back to Cross she glared at her and gave her a dirty look. "Besides, I don't see how anything I say or do at this point can make matters worse. Not like Cross is going to keep this to herself."

"You're right about that Green," Pandora said as she looked at Samara. Samara rolled her eyes at this and pulled out her wand, pointing it out towards Cross.

"_Obliviate_!" Samara exclaimed as she looked at Cross, who blinked several times as her eyes suddenly became bleary and Severus looked at Samara with a very shocked expressions, unable to believe what she had just done. "Professor Cross, don't you think that dragging Professor Snape into this is a bit much? I didn't bump into you on purpose, and I really did not mean that you were heavy like a cow, I just meant that your weight was a bit much for my tiny frame to support," Samara said as she looked at Cross whose gaze suddenly focused and she blinked at Samara in confusion.

"I don't recall colliding into you," Pandora said as she stared at Samara while Severus gaze narrowed shrewdly on Samara, though he was still shocked to the extreme she had just gone through.

"Oh, you must've hit your head very hard. We were both heading down to the Great Hall and in my hasted, I bumped into you and we rolled down the stairs. While we were on the floor I gasped that you were crushing me and you dragged me down here to talk to Professor Snape," Samara said as she looked at Severus pointedly. He merely narrowed his eyes on Samara before looking at Cross.

"Rest assured Professor Cross, I will deal with Samara's insolence," Severus said as he grasped Samara by the arm and dragged her down the hallway to his office before puching her inside and slamming the door shut behind themselves. "What the HELL do you think you were doing?! It is against the law to obliviate another witch of wizard without ministry authority! What did you think that you were doing?!"

"Saving your arse," Samara exclaimed as she looked back at him. "I could really care less if she ruined my future, causing her great injury would have made it all worth it, but I didn't want you to lose your job. If I had to break some law for you and do something completely unethical in the process to save you, than I don't care! I would gladly do it if it meant keeping you out of Azkaban!" Samara said angrily before brushing past him and heading towards the door, thinking that she was close to being rid of Cross to let anything at all to hinder it.

Severus watched as Samara walked out of the room, slamming the door behind herself. As he stared at the wall, thinking about what he had just done, he felt his heart pang for her. How could she jeopardize her future and going to Azkaban for him, even though he had broken her heart and despite having just heard her rant about how undeserving she thought he was of her. Well perhaps she hadn't said that, but it amounted to the same thing. Feeling tears brimming in his eyes as he thought about what she had just done for him, despite the darkness in Samara's character that it implied, he could not help but fall to his knees and weep at the thought he was losing the most precious jewel that he'd ever had and never deserved.

--

"Samara, tell me all about it," Nate said as he bounced over to Samara the following morning as she was making her way to breakfast. Samara looked over at him and raised a brow as she looked at him. "Come on Samara. You must know all about it. It happened last night in the Astronomy tower."

"What did? I didn't show up for my NEWTs exam last night, I was too tired," Samara lied as she looked at him and realized what he was talking about. The truth was that she had planned on going to take her exam and manipulate the situation, however, instead she had opted to cry her eyes out in the privacy of her own rooms. It had rendered her unfit to be seen, so she had snuck up to the tower where her exam was to take place and hid until Cross came up, furious about a rumor that she heard, via some of Samara's pawns, that Aurora was spreading about her having had an illicit affair with someone or other. The various rumors that Samara had started to spread discreetly through Slytherin that branched throughout the whole week had Cross with several people, including school governors, some of the older students and even Severus. It had helped the fact that the certain idiot Gryffindors had played into the whole thing and started claiming that they were the ones that she had the affair with.

However, Cross of course assumed that Sinistra had started these rumors and when she accused Sinistra of it, Sinistra had merely laughed at her and called her ridiculous. All Samara had to do was wait till the argument started to escalate, before pointing her wand at her throat and disguising her voice and throwing it across the voice to a Gryffindor, who Cross thought he said something derrogatory about her and suddenly Cross lost her marbles and started attacking the students. Before long Sinistra and Cross were in an all out Duel as Sinistra tried to protect her students from Cross.

Samara hadn't stayed to enjoy the show and simply slipped off in the darkness to her rooms and went to sleep. She supposed that by now, the whole school had heard about what had occurred. "I can't believe you weren't there! Cross went to Sinistra in a bloody rage and accused her of spreading rumors about her and then some Gryffindor idiot said something about Cross being a hot lay and she hexed him. Next thing you know, everyone is running, ducking for cover as Cross and Sinistra go into an all out duel. Finally someone ran to go get someone, and Dumbledore and McGonagall burst into the room to break up the party. Supposedly there about 5 people in the hospital wing, hit by stray spells," Nate said excited as they emerged at the head of the stairs leading down to the entrance hall were a large group students were gathered.

"What's going on?" Samara asked, feigning concern as she and Nate stood behind a couple of first years who were craning their necks to see what was going on.

"Professor Cross is getting sacked," one of the first years said as he bounced up and down on his toes. Samara felt herself smirk inside as she watched Professor Cross making her way out of the hall with her head ducked down in shame as she passed up the students and walked out of the castle. Crossing her arms over her chest, Samara feigned concern while her eyes glinted with delight as she watched Cross march out of the hall and the doors close behind her as everyone watched and whispered behind their hands. She thought that was what she deserved to think that she could contest with a Slytherin.

"That's a shame. I may have not liked her very much, but she was a better professor than most we've had over the years," Samara said as she and everyone finally started to move towards the Great Hall for breakfast.

"That she was. But who cares, we're done," Nate said excitedly as he ran a hand through his hair and they sat down at the table. Samara grinned at him as she raised her cup of juice to him.

"That we are. Here's to the bloody end!" Samara said as she clinked her goblet with his.

"Here here!" he grinned at her as Samara's gaze slipped past him to look at Snape who was watching her with his eyes clouded as he stared at her. She merely smirked at him, her eyes glistening darkly as she drank from her goblet and turned her gaze away from Snape and the empty seat beside him.

**TBC...**

**A/n: **Well this is the second to last chapter of Gumby, and despite the glimpse at how dark Samara can be and how she is a true Slytherin, I am fond of this chapter.

I have written three chapters of the sequel already and will continue to work on that as I also work on the very last chapter of Gumby. I hope that on the day that Gumby is finished, hours later I shall be posting the first past of Eternal Sunshine.

Thank you all for reading and for reviewing! Your reviews have kept me going and I continue to love and appreciate them. I love to hear what you think, so please tell me. I am particularly interested to see how you all like or dislike the evil side of Samara. Please REVIEW!


	84. Yesterday And The Silence It Left

**Disclaimer: **Samara's last song is by the Beatles, called Yesterday. The other song featured in this chapter is the Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkle.

**Gumby**

_**Chapter 84: Yesterday And The Silence It Left**_

The following days were a quick blur to Severus, passing faster than the seconds on the face of a clock, bringing Samara's departure ever closer. As he sat up in his office with his head buried in his hands, he went over the leaving ceremony that they had in the afternoon for the seventh years. Tonight she was spending her last night on the castle and would be leaving in the morning along with the rest of the seventh years and he could not sleep. He found it impossible to stop thinking about her, which in turn made tears streak down his face as he struggled to breathe.

In just a day's time, she would be leaving and in a day or two, the rest of the students would follow and shortly after, the staff would be free to go home for the holiday as well. Brushing the tears on his face away angrily, Severus banged open the drawers of his desk. Since he'd been unable to sleep for days, he had gotten an early start in packing up for the holidays, so he could get away from the castle as soon as possible. The truth was, he couldn't bear to be in the castle any longer as he could never shake off the constant feeling of her presence. He knew that she was there, somewhere in the castle and he could easily go and see her. However, when she was gone, he would forever see a ghost of her memory wandering the castle.

Digging his fingers into his eyes, he sighed as he wondered how much worse it would be back in Spinner's End. The halls of Hogwarts were of course tainted with her memories, however, now, so was Spinner's End. Pulling his hands away from his eyes, Severus reprimanded himself to get a grip seeing as he was acting like Samara were dying rather instead of just leaving school.

However, as he stared down into his drawer, he furrowed his brow as he stared at the dry, but preserved flowers that lay delicately inside. Gently, he extricated the deep red carnation with crispy petals and darker edges, before turning his gaze towards what looked like a deep golden daffodil with dark brown edges. The fact that they now looked to be Gryffindor colors completely escaped him as he thought about the flowers that he had once given Samara and wondering if she had kept them and placed these inside his desk. He couldn't think of anyone, or any reason for anyone, to have placed two pressed flowers into his desk drawer, especially with him not noticing. After all, his office was locked and warded whenever he wasn't inside and he assumed for Samara, sneaking into his office when he was not present would be quite simple.

Furrowing his brow, Severus leaned back and twirled both flowers in his long fingered hands. Staring at the twirling little beauties in his hand, he wondered why Samara would go through so much trouble of sneaking into his office to leave these in his drawers and wondered when she had done it. He assumed it had to be recent considering the fact that he wouldn't have noticed if it had been in the last week or two because he hadn't been in his office much recently as he hadn't a need to.

Focusing his attention on the carnation, he thought back to the day in the garden and what he told her it meant. _My heart aches for you. _Severus felt his heart ache at just the thought as he turned to the daffodil. _You are the only one. _

Closing his eyes, Severus wondered if it was what she felt, or if she was just reminding him of what he'd said to her. However, he thought back to the past couple days and the way that every time she looked at him, she looked at him with nothing more than pure loathing. After that night that they had almost gotten caught by Cross, he could see that she was angry with him, however, she had risked her future, just for him.

Yet, despite that testament of love that she had for him, he wondered if the past couple days she had allowed it to be consumed by her anger and hate. While had had known for quite someitme that there was more to Samara than met the eyes, that deep down inside there was darkness within her, he hadn't ever expected for it to become so predominant within her. However, since the sacking of Cross, which he had an inkling she had something to do with, he couldn't help but think that Samara had become something different. Like she lost herself and no longer knew who she was.

Rising from his chair, he made his way towards the door and out of the room, making her way down the corridors, hoping that it would be able to keep him from his thoughts and stay in control of his emotions. Sighing as the cool air of the dungeons wrapped around him as he made his way down the hall, he closed his eyes and thought about nothing, completely clearing his mind of everything. He was unafraid of running into any students considering it was quite so late.

Opening his eyes as he walked up the stairs, he stared at the flowers that he was still carrying and about that day in the gardens of Prince Manor. However, as he thought about the reason that she had taken, how angry she had been with him and the way that she lit up as soon as she saw the garden, he felt his heart clench painfully. He wondered as he continued to march through the darkened halls of the castle, lit by the moon, if there would ever come a day that he would be able to think of Samara without feeling pain. He wondered if there would ever came a day where he would be able to fondly think of her once more, without feeling pain rip through him, making him want to break down.

Sighing unhappily, he decided that for now at least, it was for the best to put her out of mind as best he could. The pain of their end was still too great and the fact that she would soon be departing didn't lessen the pain but intensify it. Closing his eyes tightly as he walked down the hall, tucking the flowers gently away, he found time slipping without his realizing. To him it felt like time was slipping by painfully slowly, yet at the same time he felt like time was going by too fast, stealing Samara away from him on swift wings. However, as an hour or two passed, just as he could sky in the far horizon begin to lighten, he found himself standing outside the Head Girls rooms without really knowing how he had gotten there.

As he stood outside, he wondered what he was doing there. However, before he could answer, he found himself walking into her rooms. It was quite strange for him to look around the empty common room, completely darkened and almost cold, already not at all as he remembered it when he curled up with Samara on her couch and the room was lit by her fireplace.

Looking around, wondering what on earth he was doing, he crossed the room and stood outside her closed door, pressing his hand to the door gently and pressing his forehead against it. Opening the door silently, he found that if he was going to look upon her one last time, it had to be now, while she was asleep. He wouldn't be able to bare seeing her off the following morning along with the rest of the seventh years. He supposed that it was really for the best to say his goodbye while she slept.

Creeping slowly into her darkened room, Severus could see that all her things were packed away in her trunk and see the small lump on her bed. The room was completely silent as he approached Samara, who was asleep with her back to the door. He could see her long black hair, fanned out behind her, like a river of black against her white pillowcase. As he approached her bed, he paused for a moment when he heard her murmur something. However, once assured that she was still asleep, he approached her bed and peered down into her face.

His eyes having adjusted to the light, he felt his heart thump at the sight of her looking so peaceful in her sleep. She had her hands clasped together and tucked beneath her face, which looked peaceful and yet there was something sorrowful about her, even as she slept and was quite far away from the troubles of the world. "_Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play_," he thought he heard her murmur, though it was a bit hard to distinguish. However, he did see her mouth move and he smiled as a tear welled up in his eye as he remembered the strange habit she had to sing songs in her sleep. "_Now I need a place to hide..._"

Bending over, thinking he couldn't take it anymore, he placed a small kiss on her forehead and turned away. "I wish I hadn't changed you, and you were as sweet as when you were still a child," he whispered, his voice breaking with the overwhelming emotion of loss he felt. Straightening up and wiping the tear that he felt on his cheek, he turned away and walked out of her room, gently closing the door behind himself as he exited her rooms, not leaving any sort of indication that he had been there to begin with. Leaving Samara to think it had all been a strange dream, but now knowing she had changed for the worse.

--

"The headmaster said you wished to see me," Severus said as he stopped inside the Muggle Studies classroom a few days later and glaring over at Charity Burbage as she straightened up. He had planned to leave early in the morning, however, when he had gone up to speak to Albus and tel him he was leaving for the holidays, he had been told that she wanted to speak to him about something.

"Yes Severus, I will be with you in a moment," Charity replied as she continued to set her classroom in order, leaving Severus to wonder why she hadn't done any of this before and why she was putting things away the Muggle way. He had a feeling that teaching Muggle Studies was going to rot away her brain as she seemed to be forgetting she was a witch and putting away all these muggle contraptions would be much simpler is she used her wand. However, as he waited for her to finish with whatever she was doing and tell him what she wanted, he suddenly realized that one of the muggle contraptions was turned on and sending music through the classroom.

Looking around the room, he soon spotted a radio in the room, connected to a pug in. The Muggle Studies classroom was the only room in the entire castle that allowed for muggle instruments to work, for the purpoe of lessons. However, the outlets didn't work and were really just there so the students would know what they were supposed to do with them. Nothing actually ran on electricity in the room.

'_Hello darkness my old friend, I've come to talk with you again. Because a visions softly creeping, left its seeds while I was sleeping. And the visions that was planted in my brain, still remains, within the sound of silence,' _Severus heard the lyrics sung, in a male voice. He found that the melody was quite catching and there was some mild sadness inside him, welling up at the sound of it. However, before he could dwell on it too much, he found Charity slowly turning to him, holding something in her hand. Furrowing his brow, he watched as she walked over to him with the small vial. "I think that this is yours, one of the elves in the kitchen found it and for some reason brought it to me," Charity said as she walked over to him and handed him the vial, with a small amount of black liquid at the bottom.

Taking the vial that she was handing him, he glared at her once more, wondering if this was what he was being held up for. However, being as he was already there, he took the vial from her hand and pulled the stopper off the top. Bringing the potion to his nose, he smelled it and raised a brow as he stared at it. It didn't take him long to realize what it was, nor for him to think back to the day when he had caught Samara near the kitchens and she'd said that she'd been taking a break from studying and was only taking a snack-break. Immediately, connections started to be made in his brain and he thought about how Cross' aggression had been steadily rising and suddenly it made sense to him how the entire fight with Sinistra had been orchestrated.

He had to admit, as he stared at the vial, that it had been genius, as she had completely escaped detection and notice. Even now, he was the only one to have figured it out, and he would have never know for sure had Charity not given him this vial, which to her was simply innocuous and unimportant. Looking up from the vial, he merely nodded at Charity as he turned around and walked out of the classroom, slipping the vial into his pocket and making his way down the hallway, thinking about what he now knew to be true about Samara, but thinking that it didn't change anything. He was still madly in love with her, and he knew that nothign that she did would ever change that. Even if she changed, because she would forever be the woman that had loved him for who he was. The only woman to have looked past everything he was and loved him despite it all.

As he walked through the empty and eerily silent halls of Hogwarts, Severus thought about the prevalent silence that had been left behind by the departure of all the students from Hogwarts. However, as he stepped out into the bright sunny day and made his way across the grounds, he found the ghost of Samara's memory everyone that he looked. Even as he passed the lake and thought of the last day of the previous year, when Samara had sat with him by the lake and placed a kiss on his cheek.

Placing a hand over his heart, Severus continued to make his way towards the gates of Hogwarts and hoping that over the coming months he would be able to live with the way that his heart bled for Samara. Clutching onto his robes as he crossed the gates and took one last look of the castle, he sighed at the thought that he would soon be returning for another year at Hogwarts, and that she wouldn't be in it. He knew that even thought in a few short months that the castle would be crawling with students once more, all the noise that they created wouldn't be able to cover up the deafening silence of her absence. Because there wasn't any one student that would ever compare to Samara.

Closing his eyes, Severus turned away from the castle and apparrated to Spinner's End, a part of him hoping to get caught in space and time on his way and to never emerge on the other side. However, as he stood in the gloominess of the living room and sitting down on his worn couch, he placed his head in his hands. Taking a deep and shuddering breath, he forced himself to think of his purpose in life, and that whether he ever saw Samara again, it truly didn't matter. He knew, that with the return of the Dark Lord, his future was quite uncertain. He had no future to live out with anyone and knowing that what he'd done for Samara was really for the best, he leaned back and sighed, hoping that at least she would find some happiness. Knowing that he never would without her, or at least, while still trapped with her memories. But he supposed that he really wouldn't give them up, not even or all the peace in the world. Because he couldn't lose his Samara. Not anymore than he already had.

_**THE END  
**_

**Authors Note: **Well there you have it, the end at last. At least of the first part. Like I said, I'll probably post the first chapter of the sequel later on today, however I need to ask one last question before I do that. The Rating for the sequel, keep it teen or rated M?

Anyway, I hope that you all enjoyed the story and thank to everyone who ever reviewed. I really am glad that you did as it really did keep me motivated and forced me to keep going. I could have abandoned this story, but knowing that so many of you enjoy it and read it, I just couldn't do that to all of you. So I really am eternally grateful for your continued support.


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